Federal and state task force
Greens demand collection of materials on the AfD
May 18, 2024, 2:10 p.m
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After a court ruling, the AfD can continue to be monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Greens want to make the acquisition of knowledge more broadly based. The knowledge of other actors should also be used systematically. It’s about a broad database for a possible ban procedure.
In the opinion of the Green Party leadership, the federal and state governments should systematically collect material on the AfD. There are rightly significant constitutional hurdles to a ban procedure. However, it is necessary to carefully examine the assessments of the security authorities and to continually evaluate them. “We are therefore proposing the establishment of a federal and state task force as part of the Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK),” it says in a statement that has now been published Decision of the party executive committee from Thursday.
In the opinion of the Green Party leadership, the “task force” should “systematically bring together and evaluate findings on the anti-constitutional activities of the AfD and its youth organization Junge Alternative from the federal and state governments”. In addition to the findings of the constitutional protection authorities, “civil society expertise” should also be included. “All constitutional bodies must, of course, constantly weigh up the current assessments of the security authorities as well as the arguments for and against a ban and draw conclusions from these findings.”
The background to the newly flared debate about an AfD ban procedure is a ruling by the North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court in Münster. Accordingly, the classification of the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is legal. This means that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution can continue to use intelligence resources to monitor the party. However, the AfD announced a complaint.
The resolution of the Green party executive committee under the title “With courage and determination against right-wing extremists and the AfD” lists a total of 15 points. The Greens also demand that the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution “take action against right-wing extremists with a clear focus.” This includes dealing with right-wing extremist acts of violence and terrorism more consistently and dismantling right-wing extremist networks.