German federal states have launched a second attempt to ban the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) in a contested case critics say will merely give the struggling fringe party a publicity boost.
The NPD scored 1.3 per cent in the 2013 federal election and has never sat in the Bundestag. But lawyers for Germany's 16 federal states told constitutional court judges on Tuesday that the NPD's xenophobic policies posed a threat to Germany's democratic order.
The case comes as the far-right Pegida group has, for the first time, floated the idea of shifting from protest movement to political party.
In the Karlsruhe constitutional court, chief justice Andreas Vosskuhle said Germany's high burden of proof to ban political parties was a conscious reaction Nazi-era bans of political opponents. It "limits freedom to preserve freedom" and was thus "a sharp and double-edged sword that must be used with great caution".
Over three days the eight-judge court will hear why the NPD, founded in 1964, deserves to be banned or not. The Karlsruhe court threw out a previous attempt in 2003 after it emerged that the NPD was riddled with state-financed moles, whom the court said could be acting as agents provocateur.
State lawyers insist all moles have been removed this time, though an NPD lawyer has promised a “firecracker” revelation on this front.
The NPD case has divided Germany's political establishment. State leaders are convinced a ban is crucial to cut off taxpayer funding to the party. Though it has just one seat in an eastern state parliament and another in the European Parliament, the party has hundreds of councillors active in grassroots politics across the country.
Lawyers for the Bundesrat, representing the federal states in the case, say their case will prove the NPD represents an active threat to the democratic order and holds an "aggressive and combative attitude".
The federal government in Berlin is not convinced of the threat posed by the NPD and its 5,200 members and has declined to join proceedings.
Federal justice minister Heiko Maas has warned that, "even if the NPD is banned, it unfortunately doesn't mean there is no more right-wing extremism in Germany".
As the NPD case got under way, Dresden’s Pegida movement indicated it was ready to move beyond weekly protest marches against Germany’s migration policy.
Pegida founder Lutz Bachmann said he would be open to transforming his movement into a political party, co-operating with the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
“There is considerable overlap,” he said, suggesting an electoral list co-operation in future elections.
Last year AfD officials in Saxony held talks with Pegida, but nothing concrete emerged. On Tuesday AfD officials reacted cooly to Mr Bachmann’s proposal, reflecting concern in the party about Pegida’s increasingly radical anti-immigrant profile.
“We have no co-operation with Pegida and have made no deals,” said Mr Jörg Meuthen, AfD co-leader. “The AfD is the only real alternative to all other parties and is not dependent on any coalitions or co-operations with others.”
