More than 100 members of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, have made application for a ban on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), conservative Bundestag member Marco Wanderwitz said on Wednesday.
Hopefully Germany treads lightly. A simple ban that fails to address why AfD is gaining ground is going to end up creating a martyr complex if left unchecked.
Any ban of a political party includes “successor” parties/structures. If a large number of politicians from a banned party joined another, that party is likely to get banned too.
It won’t fix the issue but it provides room to breathe. A ban is preferable over doing nothing any day of the week.
Asked whether the Bundestag would be able to consider the proposal before elections pencilled in for February 23, he said he had the right to put the motion forward and there would be a debate before the full house in the current legislative period, but that it was not clear whether a vote would in fact be held.
So it’s more of a symbolic action?
We may have a realistic chance that the vote is actually held. They will want to put something into motion before the re-elections, I hope.
Not too familiar with German politics and law but doesn’t that seem fast?