BERLIN: Incoming German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested on Sunday it was unlikely the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party would be banned after the spy agency classified it as 鈥渆xtremist鈥� last week.
German lawmakers have been discussing outlawing the party and taking other measures including dismissing civil servants who are members of the AfD and limiting or halting public funding.
But Dobrindt told broadcaster ARD he was doubtful whether the AfD activities identified in the spy agency鈥檚 report met the requirements set out for an outright ban.
Guidelines set by the constitutional court say a party must be shown to be working 鈥渃ombatively and aggressively鈥� to implement its goals to be banned.
鈥淚鈥檓 skeptical, because the aggressive, combative nature of the party against our democracy must be a defining characteristic. The Constitutional Court was right to set high hurdles for banning a party,鈥� Dobrindt said.
He added that he was 鈥渃onvinced that the AfD does not need to be banned, it needs to be governed away, and we need to talk about the issues that have made the AfD so big.鈥�
Dobrindt, a high-profile member of the CSU, the Bavarian sister party of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz鈥檚 CDU, said his ministry would examine the designation in depth and he would discuss its findings with the spy agency鈥檚 top brass in person.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the future government would work to shrink the AfD.
鈥淲hat I don鈥檛 believe is that a potential ban procedure, which could take years, is the sole instrument to bring the AfD down,鈥� Klingbeil, Germany鈥檚 next vice chancellor, said.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accused outgoing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of using the spy agency as a 鈥渟ecret justice system鈥� to discriminate against the party.
鈥淲e are a future governing party; even the machinations of the secret justice system will not be able to prevent that in the long run,鈥� Weidel told the Welt newspaper on Sunday.