Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Cem Özdemir is promoting the AfD ban

According to his own statements, Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Cem Özdemir is constantly in talks with colleagues from the Federal Council in order to find a majority for a ban on the AfD. The Green politician said he has been speaking about this to colleagues since his first day as Prime Minister. However, it makes sense to only start proceedings when there is a prospect of having the 35 votes necessary for an absolute majority in the Federal Council. “Otherwise you would be in defeat – obviously.” This would only help said party.

There is no Prime Minister's Conference or Federal Council meeting where the ban procedure is not on his agenda with colleagues, said Özdemir. However, on this serious issue, one can only report an enforcement action if it has been appropriately prepared. In addition, a ban procedure would not solve any problem at all at the moment, as such a procedure would take years.

Özdemir: Democratic center parties responsible for loss of trust

A ban procedure does not replace having to deal with why the party is so strong, why the parties in the democratic center have lost so much trust and how, in the next step, people who have ended up with the AfD can be won back. “I would say that, you have to admit it so hard, we all did a bad job together that we lost them. And we might still be losing some when I look at Berlin.”

A good week before the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Özdemir and Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had already spoken out in a guest article for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (FAS) for a ban to be initiated as soon as possible, with a focus on the clearly nationalist regional associations of the AfD in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg.