The Atlantic: Mertz Faces Another Challenge

Germany is debating the fate of a far-right party.

A political storm is brewing in Germany over the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which was recently officially recognized as an extremist organization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The decision opens the door to surveillance of the party, its possible infiltration and even a potential ban, writes The Atlantic (translated by Charter97.org).

AfD opposes immigration, and some of its leaders, such as Bjorn Hocke, regularly make statements evoking Third Reich rhetoric. Despite this, the party won nearly a quarter of the seats in the German parliament in the last election, from 76 to 152 seats. The question now arises: can a party that is supported by a large part of the population be democratically banned?"

"This is not just a party competition. The whole system is against us," said one AfD supporter at a rally in Thuringia. This perception is reinforced after the BfV's decision.

Critics see the intelligence action as an attack on democracy. Former BfV head Hans-Georg Maasen said: "In Western democracies, it is unthinkable that intelligence agencies spy on political opponents. In Germany, this has become the norm."

The AfD is especially popular in East Germany, where economic inequality and the historical memory of GDR-era surveillance reinforce distrust of the state.

Paradoxically, the law only bans parties if they are strong enough to actually threaten democracy. The AfD has reached just such a scale - too big to ignore, but also too big to simply ban without consequences.

The new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, now has the difficult task of proving that the state is fighting radicalism, not opposition, without undermining democracy itself.

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