The German Supreme Court bans government funding for the neo-Nazi party

Germany's Supreme Court on Tuesday stripped a neo-Nazi party of its right to government funding and the tax breaks normally awarded to political organizations, a decision that could provide a blueprint for the government's efforts to stem a resurgence of the far right prevent.

Although the party Die Heimat, meaning “The Homeland,” was already too small to receive public funding, the case was closely watched because it could have implications for countering the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, a much more popular far-right party.

“Today's decision by the Federal Constitutional Court sends a clear signal: our democratic state does not finance enemies of the constitution,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

The government had tried to ban Die Heimat, formerly known as the National Democratic Party (NPD), but failed as the court ruled that the party did not have enough support to have any significant influence. procedure that culminated in the financing ban on Tuesday.

In recent months, scholars and politicians have argued that the AfD should be banned because the party poses a threat to democracy. However, others have warned that the approach, which would take years to overcome all political and legal obstacles, could backfire by making the party even more popular.

Some experts have said that a ban on government funding, as the court did with Die Heimat, could be an effective middle ground: It would hinder the AfD, without banning it outright.

Which party is central to the court's decision?

The NPD was a notorious far-right party with established ties to the neo-Nazi scene. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the original Nazi generation was still alive and voting, it managed to send delegates to seven different state houses.

The party narrowly missed sending representatives to federal parliament in 1969, when it received 4.3 percent of the vote.

In recent decades, the party's popularity and importance have declined, and last year the party was renamed. The government estimates that it will have only 3,000 members in 2022. Less than 65,000 people voted in favor of the last national elections in 2021.

That figure represents far less than 0.5 percent of all votes cast, which is the threshold to receive state funding. But the successful attempt to deny state money sends a message nonetheless, and the ruling, which is valid for six years, also means that potential donors can no longer give money to the party tax-free.

How can far-right parties exist in Germany?

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which can use intelligence tools to monitor extremism, had previously determined that the NPD was fundamentally right-wing extremist, prompting the German government to try twice in recent decades to prohibit.

Before a party can be declared an outlaw, the government must prove that the organization is actively and aggressively against the Constitution.

In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court has the final say on whether to ban parties, and such action is very rare. In the history of modern Germany, this has happened only twice: with the Socialist Party of the Reich (renamed Nazi Party) in 1952 and with the Moscow-funded Communist Party in 1956.

In two rulings on the NPD – one from 2003 and one from 2017 – the court refused to ban the party. In the 2017 ruling, the court ruled that while the party was extremist, it was not popular enough to pose a real danger to German democracy.

Germany uses public party funding to reduce the power of private donations. Parties receive funding from the state based on their performance in the most recent elections. For major parties, this means millions of euros in campaign funds from the government.

“The forces that want to undermine and destroy our democracy should not receive a single cent of government funding for this purpose – either directly or indirectly through tax breaks,” Ms Faeser said in her statement.

Why is fear of the extreme right increasing?

The AfD is poised to make big gains this year as three eastern states go to the polls, prompting nearly a million people to take to the streets in towns and cities across Germany this weekend to show their opposition .

The trigger for the wave of protests was news of a secret meeting involving representatives of the AfD, members of the right wing of the main conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union; known neo-Nazis; and business people. The meeting was revealed by Correctiva small, crowdfunded investigative news site.

At the meeting, which took place in a small hotel not far from where the Nazis planned the final stages of the Holocaust in 1942, participants discussed the mass deportation of foreigners and even some German citizens with foreign backgrounds.