German Social Democrats consider banning AfD

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) passed a motion at its congress in Berlin on Sunday demanding that an SPD working group study the possibility of banning the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

After a debate lasting just over two hours, SPD delegates approved the initiative, which was championed by party co-chairman and finance minister Lars Klingbeil, who called the fight against the far right a “historic task.”

“These people [AfD members] must be removed from parliament, they must not be there. We must fight the far right, that is our task,” Klingbeil told lawmakers ahead of the vote.

Lars Klingbeil argued that taking legal action, such as a possible ban on the AfD, is part of the fight against the far right.

“I tell you that the moment the Office for the Protection of the Constitution confirms that this [AfD] is a far-right party, there can be no more tactics, there can be no more discussion,” the re-elected SPD co-chair declared on Friday, together with German Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Bärbel Bas.

The AfD, the main opposition party and the second-largest party to emerge from February's elections, is currently fighting in court to challenge the designation of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which declared the party a “definitive case of right-wing extremism” at the national level.

In several German states, regional branches of the AfD are already listed as “definite cases of right-wing extremism”.

In addition to Klingbeil, several local and regional SPD political figures gave speeches on Sunday, all of whom, before the motion was passed, pointed out the “threat” to liberal democracy that the AfD represents.

“The AfD is an ethno-nationalist party,” accused the motion’s proposer, Georg Maier, the first to present the initiative and chairman of the SPD in the state of Thuringia, an eastern German region where the far-right party won the last regional parliamentary elections in September 2024, with 32.8%.

Maier said the AfD, which failed to govern in Thuringia due to lack of support, violates several articles of the German Basic Law, such as Article 1, which states that “human dignity is inviolable”, given, among other things, the positions defended by far-right figures on immigration.

Maier urged the SPD to work towards banning the AfD with a “well-prepared” process that would allow the competent authorities to succeed against the AfD.

“We don’t want to rush into a ban process. That would be a big mistake. It needs to be well prepared, so a federal and state working group should compile and evaluate the material, with the support of experts,” Maier said.