Germany is reckoning with its idea of itself. Germany’s commitment to public reckoning with the troubled history of its own far-Right nationalism has shaped its international reputation as well as its self-concept as a global leader of liberal, humane ideals. As a result, the apparent powerlessness to stem the German far-Right’s growing power has been particularly concerning for German citizens and leaders alike.
But earlier this month, the constitutional court claimed a victory in targeting far-Right political parties when it ruled that the neo-Nazi, ultranationalist party, Die Heimat (The Homeland), formerly called the NPD or the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (a thinly-veiled reference to National Socialism), would be unable to receive State party funding for six years due to its ideology. The court ruled that the party “continues to disregard the free democratic basic order and, according to its goals and behavior of its members and supporters, is geared towards its elimination.”
The result is that the party is not strictly banned but, rather, severely crippled in how it can receive funding. Political parties in Germany receive State financial support based on their representation in government. They can receive State funding for up to 50% of all party funds, with the rest coming from membership fees and donations. (Although Die Heimat has not received any State funding since 2021 due to the lack of electoral success, it had received 370,600 euros in 2016 when it won 3.02% of the vote in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).
The case against Die Heimat is a windfall after two failed attempts to ban the party and sets a landmark precedent that has potentially far-reaching consequences. The ruling is already being discussed as a possible blueprint for targeting the far-Right party, Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD), which is polling in second place nationally with 23% support, more than double the 10.3% it won during Germany’s last federal election in 2021. Polls in several eastern German states show the AfD to be the most popular party ahead of State elections in the region this fall and local elections this summer.
The outcry against the growing momentum of the AfD has rocked the country. An estimated 1.4 million Germans have taken to the streets in more than 100 locations in recent weeks to protest against the party after the investigative news outlet, Correctiv, published evidence of a meeting between AfD members and extremists where plans to deport millions of people with ‘immigration backgrounds’, including German citizens, was openly discussed. One protest of more than 100,000 people in Munich was cancelled for safety reasons as more than four times the registered number showed up to protest.
The protests are having an effect as AfD leaders lose ground. In one local election, the projected frontrunner, an AfD candidate, narrowly lost to his conservative rival, presumably in response to the widely-publicised scandal the AfD finds itself in. In another example, a court in Thuringia ruled that the local AfD party chief, Björn Höcke, could be described as a fascist. More than 1.6 million people have since signed a petition, calling for the revocation of his right to stand for election which, if successful, would be an unprecedented legal move.
But not all political leaders agree with the idea of attacking far-Right parties with legal tactics. Speaking to the Süddeutsche-Zeitung, Sven Schulze, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union in the eastern state of Saxony Anhalt, said, “We have to avoid conferring (on the AfD) martyr status and rather fight it politically with arguments.” Christian Lindner, the minister of finance and head of the liberal Freie Demokratische Partei or the FDP, which is a member of the current ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition among the FDP, the Social Democrats and the Greens, told reporters from Welt, “It must not give the impression that the parties of the democratic centre want to fend off unpleasant competition by resorting to party law.” Lindner stressed that the coalition government is responding to problems that led to the rise of the AfD, particularly immigration. “Many people have been waiting for a different migration policy since the Merkel era. It’s coming now,” he said.
The FDP has its reasons for courting the concerns of AfD voters. The party suffered a humiliating defeat in 2013 when it was thrown out of Parliament for the first time since World War II. It bounced back In 2016, at the height of the European Union’s refugee crisis, when Lindner attacked Angela Merkel’s ‘humanitarian narcissism’ as undermining German rule of law and damaging the solidarity of the EU. The CDU, as the leading German Opposition party, also has its reasons for courting AfD voters as it seeks to re-enter the chancellory in next year’s federal elections.
This is not the first time a European country risks being pushed further to the right by its fringes. In Hungary, the ruling Fidesz party led by Victor Orbán was once centre-right. As its right-wing fringes grew stronger, represented primarily by the once extreme-Right Jobbík party, Fidesz has increasingly adopted Jobbík’s platform to the point where Jobbík became essentially defunct and even tried to enter into a coalition in 2019 with Left and liberal parties to combat Fidesz’ growing stranglehold on Hungarian politics. The tactic of appealing to far-Right concerns worked and helped Fidesz secure power but at a great democratic cost: Orbán has styled himself as an ‘illiberal’ leader with practically unchecked amounts of State power.
Lindner is far from becoming the next Orbán. He is a centrist-liberal openly and frequently advocating for a pluralist, multicultural Germany, albeit with stricter border controls and tougher immigration policies. But given the AfD’s popularity and the threat it poses to all mainstream political parties, Germany is perhaps not so far away from becoming the next Hungary.
But there should be little fear in using whatever tactical means are available against the far-Right. If there is a fear that legal rather than political tactics skirt a democratic ideal of fair, political play, it is worth keeping in mind that parties like the AfD gain power by playing on voters’ deepest fears rather than their hopes and aspirations — this, in other words, is another kind of dirty tactic. Rather than simply accepting the success of far-Right tactics and allowing those parties to push politics further towards their platforms, German leaders must advocate for dignity for all. If it takes some technical-legal manoeuvring, then perhaps the ends justify the means.
Carol Schaeffer is a journalist based in New York and Berlin from where she writes about Europe, politics and culture
