As of: May 13, 2024 3:01 p.m
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Interior Minister Christian Pegel (SPD) welcomed the Münster Higher Administrative Court’s ruling on the AfD. The judges decided that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can rightly classify the party as a suspected right-wing extremist case.
Supreme Court bombshell almost four weeks before the European and local elections: Interior Minister Pegel said that the ruling strengthens the good and careful work of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For the Social Democrat and top head of the country’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the decision from Münster makes it clear: the Basic Law and the free-democratic basic order must defend themselves against their enemies.
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Cooperation between the Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The ruling does not have any concrete effects for the time being: the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution is already working closely with the Federal Office and is passing on its findings on the classification of the AfD. That confirmed levels. Among other things, the domestic secret service contributed to the report that led to the nationwide classification of the AfD as a “suspected right-wing extremist case” in 2022. The authority in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania therefore shares the Federal Office’s assessment, said Pegel. This means that the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution also sees the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case.
AfD can continue to be monitored
This also makes it clear that the party can continue to be monitored using intelligence means, as is the case throughout Germany. Among other things, so-called informants can also be used. Pegel made it clear that, according to the law, the authority was not allowed to publicly report on investigations and suspected cases. This only works with secure (right-wing) extremist efforts. Paragraph 5 of the State Protection of the Constitution Act states: “The Office for the Protection of the Constitution informs the responsible authorities and the public about threats to the free democratic basic order, the existence and security of the federal and state governments. In particular, it can publish reports on the protection of the Constitution and prevention within the framework of public relations work afford.”
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The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has rightly classified the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case. The Münster Higher Administrative Court confirmed the lower court’s ruling.
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Legal hurdle for state constitutional protection
Because the hands of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are legally tied, the AfD has not yet appeared in the country’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution reports. It would only play a role there if it was also classified as right-wing extremist in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – as is already the case in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt or Saxony. The next constitutional protection report is planned for the beginning of July. In the recent past, the AfD has also provided possible evidence of right-wing extremist efforts.
According to the government, the AfD is a danger to democracy
For example, parliamentary group leader Nikolaus Kramer repeatedly reiterated his ethnic-nationalist positions in a podcast with the Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Sellner. The youth organization “Junge Alternative” gave the right-wing extremist publisher Götz Kubitschek a podium in Schwerin. From the perspective of the SPD and Left government factions, the AfD is no longer a “suspected right-wing extremist case”. The party, which received 26 percent in the latest NDR opinion poll in the Sunday question about the state election, is also a threat to democracy in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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SPD parliamentary group leader Julian Barlen explained that “the AfD is dividing society through its anti-social and exclusionary policies and ongoing agitation.” After the verdict from Münster, it is “now up to the authorities to get to the bottom of the suspicion and decide whether it is definitely a right-wing extremist effort.” The left-wing faction’s interior expert, Michael Noetzel, explained that the AfD is an integral part of an anti-human and anti-democratic alliance on the right-wing fringe. “The AfD is no longer a suspected case. It is an extremely right-wing party,” said Noetzel.
AfD is combative
AfD state leader Leif-Erik Holm reacted completely differently. The actions of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution remain “wrong and unjustified”. Holm expressed contempt for the “so-called Office for the Protection of the Constitution.” This has now become the government’s political weapon “in the fight against the unwanted opposition.” Holm speaks of “government protection” and was combative: “We won’t let Faeser’s floppy hats silence us.” According to its own information, the AfD has around 1,000 members in the country. It is the largest opposition faction in the state parliament.
Greens criticize the protection of the constitution
The Greens in the state parliament have already criticized the way the Office for the Protection of the Constitution deals with the AfD several times. They recently demanded that the authority be allowed to publicly inform about the AfD’s classification as a “suspected right-wing extremist case”. A demand for a change in the law was rejected by the red-red coalition in the state parliament last summer. The Left’s interior expert, Noetzel, said in the debate that “unfortunately the reporting by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is of little help, but only supports their victim myth.”
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NDR 1 Radio MV | News from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | May 13, 2024 | 3:00 p.m