The AfD is stronger than ever in polls. Hesse's head of government, Rhein, is now calling for a different approach to the party and is also drawing criticism from the CDU.
Berlin. The Prime Minister of Hesse, Boris Rhein (CDU), has sparked a new debate about how to properly deal with the AfD. Rhein is in favor of electing AfD candidates as chairmen of Bundestag committees. He also expressly opposed a possible AfD ban procedure.
Sharp objection comes from former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz. SPD MP Ralf Stegner also warns against a normalization of the AfD.
Rhein justified his initiative with the will of the voters. “The party is elected, and that’s how you should treat it,” the CDU state chairman told the magazine “Stern”. He refers to Hesse and other states where the AfD could chair committees. His formula is: "We clearly differentiate ourselves from the AfD, but we do not exclude the party. This must also apply to parliamentary work."
For Polenz, the election result does not mean that he is obliged to elect AfD candidates to office. “It is not the job of a party leader or a prime minister to tell parliament how it should organize its work,” he told Handelsblatt. If the rules of procedure provide for an election, the members of the respective committee decide themselves.
Like other parties, the AfD has the right to propose committee chairmen in the Bundestag. However, not a single AfD candidate was elected by the committee members in the elections. The committees are then chaired provisionally by another member of parliament. The Federal Constitutional Court saw no reason to object to the denied election.
Polenz also emphasized that he would not have elected a politician as committee chairman who did not explicitly distance himself from the right-wing extremist parts of his party and who did not follow up this distancing with action.
Stegner from the SPD generally rejects Rhein's initiative. “As far as the AfD itself is concerned, any normalization or rapprochement with these enemies of democracy is completely out of the question,” he told the Handelsblatt. “You don’t fight those who want to destroy our free democracy by moving one millimeter towards them.” The Germans in particular should have learned this from their history. “Never again right-wing extremists with influence on politics,” he said.
The AfD is being monitored nationwide by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected case. Individual state associations – including Saxony-Anhalt – are classified as definitely right-wing extremist by the respective state Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Rhein still rejects an AfD ban procedure. Only the Bundestag, the Bundesrat or the Federal Government can submit an application for a party ban to the Federal Constitutional Court. The decision then lies with the Federal Constitutional Court.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) called for a federal-state working group on the constitutional handling of the AfD and possible consequences a good three weeks ago. The review must be open-ended and should not automatically lead to a ban, he explained. Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) has also shown himself open to such an examination. The Greens have been pushing for this for a long time.
The SPD parliamentary group recently reiterated in a position paper the demand to prepare ban proceedings against the AfD before the Federal Constitutional Court. There is enough evidence of unconstitutionality, said parliamentary group leader Sonja Eichwede. However, only a court can make the final decision. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had also suggested initially banning individual state associations of the AfD that were particularly extremist in orientation.
Rhein pointed out the skepticism in the Union. “In my opinion, there is a unanimous opinion in our party: We are not aiming for a ban on the AfD,” said the CDU politician. Polenz counters: “Unlike Boris Rhein, I believe that a review of the constitutionality of the AfD by the Federal Constitutional Court is urgently required.”
Rhein warns of a lengthy process with an uncertain outcome. He estimated it would take at least five years. “I advise fighting the AfD not legally, but politically,” he said. The democratic parties would have to make a better offer and regain sovereignty over everyday issues.
Stegner said: “Firewall and ban proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court are certainly not sufficient, but necessary.” At the same time, we must “definitely think about how we can get voters back from the AfD.” The SPD politician called for “better politics”. In addition, issues such as peace policy should not be left to the AfD without a fight.
A new Insa survey for “Bild” is increasing the pressure on the parties. For the first time, the AfD achieved 30 percent nationwide at this institute. The CDU and CSU fall to 18 percent. The gap is twelve percentage points. 79 percent of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the work of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the federal government as a whole.
Another demand from Rhein shows how quickly the dispute can become concrete in view of the AfD's further strengthening. He wants to continue the so-called cityscape debate. This is also a lesson from the AfD's electoral successes. The debate initiated by Merz was about how immigration is changing the appearance of the population of German cities. Critics pointed out racist thought patterns.
Polenz instead demands actions rather than words. “A Prime Minister should not debate the homeless and the drug scene around train stations, but should take appropriate measures to ensure that there are no fearful spaces in the cities even after dark.”
