Sigmar Gabriel warns of a possible AfD ban procedure. Other politicians also expressed criticism.
The former SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel has urgently warned against a ban on the AfD. In an interview with the “Handelsblatt” he said that such a procedure could give the party even more support. Gabriel explained: “A party ban carries the risk that the AfD will not reach 30 percent in the next elections, but 40 percent – or that a new right-wing radical party will simply be founded.”
According to Gabriel, a ban would only deal with the symptom, not the cause, of the AfD’s rise. CSU politician Andrea Lindholz supports this view. She told the “Handelsblatt”: “A ban procedure would enable the AfD to portray itself as a victim and distract from its substantive deficits.”
The trigger for the renewed debate is that MPs from the SPD, CDU/CSU, the Greens and the Left have found a sufficient number of supporters for a cross-party proposal for a ban procedure. It demands that the AfD be classified as unconstitutional. It should also be excluded from state funding.