The co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, part of the ruling coalition in Germany) Lars Klingbeil spoke out against the hasty action to ban the right-wing party "Alternative for Germany". (AfD).
„I believe we have to be a little careful so that the desire to ban the AfD does not look like a political step,” Klingbeil said in an interview with the agency DPA. “There may come a time when it will be necessary to defend ourselves against the enemies of democracy, but for that there should be enough material to consider,”, he added.
Previously, the Administrative Court of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia upheld the 2022 verdict, according to which the party “Alternative for Germany” was classified as "suspicious" into right-wing extremism and allowed her surveillance to continue. The court ruling means that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is allowed to continue to monitor party members and use technical intelligence to do so. German authorities approved the court's verdict. AfD co-chairs Tino Hrupala and Alice Weidel called the court's decision politically motivated and announced their intention to appeal.
Commenting on the court ruling, the leader of the Social Democratic Party noted that it confirmed his own assessment that the AfD is generally a far-right party. If there is enough material against the party to file a ban case, the following steps should be taken, the politician believes. “For now, however, I think it would be right to make it clear that the authorities and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution must continue to work and continue to evaluate,” concluded Klingbeil.