Why Germany might ban the pro-Russian AfD and what consequences it may bear

Germany's political scene was shaken at the end of last week. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country's domestic intelligence service, officially classified the far-right and pro-Russian Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as right-wing extremist. This decision has sharply intensified debates over whether the party could or should be banned.

Read more about this situation in the article by Khrystyna Bondarieva, a European Pravda journalis: Banning the Alternative: will Germany dare punish its main pro-Russian party. On 2 May, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution officially declared the AfD a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation. Its 1,100-page final report stated that the party's "ethnic concept of the people" is "incompatible with the liberal democratic order," and that AfD does not consider Germans with a Muslim migrant background to be equal members of the German nation.

The report also noted that AfD politicians regularly incite against refugees and migrants, and that their statements and positions, including those of the party's senior leadership, "violate the principle of human dignity." Naturally, AfD did not accept this verdict and immediately challenged it in court. They achieved a temporary win - the decision has been suspended for now.

Notably, the announcement came on 2 May, just four days before the outgoing Olaf Scholz government left office. According to German media, the intelligence service had planned to publish the verdict as early as late last year, but the collapse of the ruling coalition and the snap Bundestag elections disrupted those plans. Classifying the AfD as right-wing extremist has revived debates about banning the party - though such debates are nothing new in Germany.

Discussions have flared up several times before but always ended without action. This time, supporters of a ban are hoping to gain more political momentum. Some lawmakers are calling for an immediate push to outlaw the AfD, while others prefer to examine the legal and political implications first.

For example, new Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded with extreme caution. Banning the AfD, however, would be no easy task. Opponents of a ban warn of serious drawbacks - and even dangers.

The biggest concern is public backlash: such a move could provoke outrage among millions of German voters. And that's not even considering potential diplomatic friction with the United States. Today, AfD is no longer a fringe party of radical opposition.

It finished second in the February snap elections, has only grown in popularity since, and in recent polls has overtaken the conservative CDU/CSU alliance of now-Chancellor Merz. One in four voters - millions of people - support the party. A potential ban could take years to implement, and if the courts ultimately reject it, AfD could emerge from the process as a political victor.

Even if it is banned, there is nothing stopping its current members from founding a new party based on the same ideology, but now with the added aura of being a movement too powerful for the system to silence. Still, even without a formal ban, many politicians and experts in Germany no longer consider AfD a "normal" party. As a result, discussions about its mainstream acceptance are likely to slow down significantly.

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