01/23/2024 12:42 pm (current 01/23/2024 12:42 pm)
Constitutional Judge König (left) announcing the verdict ©APA/AFP/POOL
As the right-wing extremist NPD is unconstitutional, the German Constitutional Court excluded the party, renamed “Die Heimat”, from state party funding for six years. “The defendant continues to disregard the free democratic basic order and, in accordance with his goals and the behavior of his members and supporters, aims for its elimination,” said constitutional judge Doris König on Tuesday in Karlsruhe.
It was the first case of its kind in Germany's highest court. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) welcomed the decision. The party itself did not appear impressed and announced that it would continue its work. The decision should also be discussed in relation to the right-wing populist parliamentary party AfD.
König explained the Senate's unanimous decision that the party's political concept is still incompatible with the guarantee of human dignity within the meaning of the Basic Law. Therefore, it clings to the ethnic concept of the people and the idea of the German “national community” as a community of descent. To realize the “German national community”, it calls for the separation of cultures and ethnic groups, for comprehensive legal improvement for all those who belong to this community and for the devaluation of the legal status of all those who do not belong to it.
“The spread of the ethnically defined “national community” results in a disrespect for foreigners, migrants and minorities that violates human dignity and the requirement for elementary legal equality,” said König. The data presented shows that the party's racist attitude, especially anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and anti-Gypsy, as well as its negative attitude towards social minorities, such as transgender people, remain unchanged.
Furthermore, the party opposes the principle of democracy. “It wants to replace the existing constitutional order with an authoritarian nation-state oriented towards the 'ethnic community',” said König. They despise the existing parliamentary system and call for its overcoming.
The legislator created the option to exclude funding after the NPD's second unsuccessful ban procedure in 2017. The Constitutional Court rejected the ban at the time because there was no evidence that the party could achieve its anti-constitutional goals.
The legislator then created the possibility of excluding party financing. The Bundestag, the Bundesrat and the federal government then requested that the NPD and potential replacement parties be excluded from partial funding for six years. The period is specified by law. The 129-page ruling also eliminates tax benefits for the party and donations to it.
Interior Minister Faeser emphasized that the court's decision sent a clear signal: “Our democratic state does not finance enemies of the constitution.” Constitutional hurdles for future proceedings remain high, Faeser said, according to the statement. But “now we have another instrument to protect our democracy.”
According to party law, parties can receive money from the state for their work. The sum is calculated according to a specific key, where, among other things, votes play a role. To be eligible, parties must reach minimum quotas in the most recent elections at state, federal and European level.
Given that the NPD has been unable to do this recently, according to Bundestag data, it has not received any money since 2021. A year earlier it was around 370,600 euros – it received 3.02 percent of the vote in the 2016 state election in Mecklenburg -Western Pomerania.
There was a scandal at the hearing in July last year because no party representatives attended – according to the court, a unique event. Die Heimat also did not send anyone for the verdict. Party chairman Frank Franz admitted in writing that the verdict was not good for Die Heimat. “But anyone who thinks that would take us out of the game and stop us is seriously mistaken.” Strengthened by the support of its members and donors, the party will follow its own path. According to a spokesperson, the party has around 3,000 members.
From the perspective of the former NPD, the decision “banned unwanted competition for this financing”. It was said that an example was set against a “party loyal to the people”. “If it has now reached Die Heimat, the focus is now, as expected, on the AfD.”
CSU head Markus Söder, for example, raised the option of a funding exclusion procedure in the current debate over a possible ban on the AfD. However, for such an exclusion, the court would also have to rule that the AfD is unconstitutional – so the criteria are largely the same. The only difference: the so-called potential to eliminate or undermine the free democratic basic order, which is necessary for a ban and which the court did not see in the NPD case.
Judge König explained that the so-called freedom of the State was not violated in the present case. Accordingly, no informants (authority liaison persons) or undercover investigators may be deployed to the concerned party's management levels during the ongoing funding exclusion process. Furthermore, based on the certificates presented, it can be assumed that the party's litigation strategy was not spied on. “The request is therefore admissible.”