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The AfD loses in the appeal process at the OVG Münster against the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. This has far-reaching consequences – especially since another judgment is pending.
Münster – It has been official since Monday morning: According to a ruling by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) can classify the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case and monitor it for intelligence purposes. This has serious consequences for the party – especially since another court ruling is imminent.
AfD loses at OVG Münster: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is allowed to observe the party as a suspected right-wing extremist case
Fabian Wittreck, Professor of Public Law at the University of Münster, believes that it will not remain a case of pure suspicion after the OVG ruling. “I assume that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will improve the classification again,” he said in an interview with this editorial team. This means: The Federal Office will probably soon classify the AfD as “secure right-wing extremist” across Germany. This would have direct consequences for party officials who hold public office, for example who want to become judges or police officers: As members of a firmly right-wing extremist party, “they will have a much more difficult time obtaining such an office in the future,” said Wittreck.
The BfV presented the court with thousands of pieces of evidence of anti-constitutional tendencies in the AfD. It was primarily about statements made by AfD officials – often using vocabulary from the sphere of ethnic ideology. “I think the arguments of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are plausible. “Especially when it comes to analyzing ethnic terms,” explains Fabian Wittreck. “They are dangerously close to what led to an end to party financing at the NPD.”
After the AfD ruling in Münster: “Another piece of the mosaic towards a party ban”
This could now also flourish for the AfD – and even more, believes Wittreck: “The verdict is another piece of the mosaic in the direction of a party ban.” Such a ban has been discussed for months – especially since the revelations of the so-called secret meeting in Potsdam, at which right-wing extremists, AfD representatives and members of the Union of Values spoke about the deportation of millions of people under the keyword “remigration”.
Critics had repeatedly noted that a ban debate in the super election year of 2024 would be pointless – because a corresponding procedure takes months or years. But: “As a smaller solution, exclusion from party financing is conceivable. “That would be much quicker than a ban and would still be possible in this election year,” said Wittreck.
Trial against AfD man Björn Höcke – the foundation is also in danger
And not only that: the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD and founded in 2017, is also coming under pressure after the verdict. It is considered a think tank for the so-called New Right; critics accuse it of historical revisionism. The foundation has been trying to get public money for years. “The AfD is now in a bad position when it comes to this,” believes lawyer Wittreck. According to the Foundation Financing Act, a foundation must ensure that it stands for the free-democratic basic order and the idea of international understanding. After the Münster ruling, this will likely be difficult, says Wittreck.
In addition: On Tuesday there will be a verdict in the trial against the top Thuringian AfD politician Björn Höcke expected. He is suspected of sedition. In addition to the recent scandals surrounding the AfD European politician Maximilian Krah, whose employees are said to have spied in the service of China, all of this puts the AfD in a very unfavorable light when it comes to the question of loyalty to the constitution.
After the Münster Higher Administrative Court’s ruling, the AfD may still appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. Unlike the appeal process, the entire process is not reopened, but only the judgment from the previous instance is checked for possible legal errors.
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