Germany has initiated proceedings for a ban of the extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD) by the Constitutional Court. Federal and state interior ministers agreed to recommend going ahead with controversial legal proceedings against the movement, which includes neo-Nazis. Calls for a ban of the NPD, which critics say is inspired by Hitler's NSDAP party, have grown since it emerged last year a neo-Nazi cell had waged a racist killing spree over nearly a decade. However, banning a political party is an especially controversial act in Germany, haunted by memories of Nazi and Communist regimes which silenced dissent. An attempt to ban the NPD in 2003 was thrown out by the Constitutional Court after it became clear that informants high in the NPD were used as key witnesses.
"We believe we have now better evidence against the NPD than in 2003," Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told a news conference on Wednesday. "There's a political risk that we could help revive the fortunes of a party that is already fading," he said, adding: "Everyone will have to ask: what will the propaganda value of this be for the NPD?"
The opposition Social Democrats (SPD) have pushed for the ban despite reservations from some members of the governing coalition, including Chancellor Angela Merkel who is worried the NPD could be strengthened if a second bid fails. Other opponents argue a ban could push the NPD underground and make it more dangerous.
The ministers' recommendation needs approval from state governors, expected on Thursday, before a vote in the upper house of the German parliament in which the 16 states are represented, later this month. It will then take up to three months for the case to be prepared for sending to court.
World Jewish Congress Vice-President Charlotte Knobloch, the head of Munich's Jewish community who had long campaigned for a ban of the NPD, said in a first reaction that the decision represented the "long-awaited political signal that rightwing extremism that is openly celebrated has no place in German society." She added: "We must not permit that a politcal party that acts openly xenophobic, racist and anti-Semitic and that spreads ideologies that undermine our Constitution is being financed with taxpayers' monies." In Germany, political parties receive state compensation if they pass a certain threshold in state or federal elections.
Dieter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in reaction to the ministers' decision: "It is high time that the terrible actions of the NPD are brought to an end. For every true democrat it is simply unbearable to see that right-wing extremists receive taxpayers' money to disseminate their brown poison. A ban of the NPD can now end this situation. I sincerely hope that the federal parliament and government will support this decision."
