{"id":337414,"date":"2025-08-12T03:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T03:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337414\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T03:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T03:29:11","slug":"between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337414\/","title":{"rendered":"Between a rock and a hard place \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

And last month, we finally witnessed the opening skirmishes of this battle: Just before parliament went into recess, the AfD created a dangerous split between the CDU and SPD, making the most of its sophisticated online supporters who pump out \u201cnews\u201d of dubious veracity.<\/p>\n

The issue at stake was Judge Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf\u2019s proposed nomination<\/a> to the Constitutional Court. With more liberal views on abortion than is currently permitted under Germany\u2019s comparatively restrictive legislation, Brosius-Gersdorf was demonized online, leading some frightened CDU members of the Bundestag to suggest they\u2019d no longer back her. Her nomination was eventually pulled.<\/p>\n

But even such local incidents now have far-reaching implications. Before and during his reelection campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump and those around him had made no secret of their admiration for the AfD. Tech billionaire Elon Musk hosted a \u201cfireside chat\u201d with party leader Alice Weidel<\/a>, where they mused on everything from space to Hitler \u2014 describing him as a \u201ccommunist, socialist guy.\u201d Then, at the Munich Security Conference in February, Vice President JD Vance also made time to see Weidel<\/a>, while denouncing the German government for a variety of sins.<\/p>\n

\"\" Tech billionaire Elon Musk hosted a \u201cfireside chat\u201d with party leader Alice Weidel, where they mused on everything from space to Hitler \u2014 describing him as a \u201ccommunist, socialist guy.\u201d | Hannibal Hanschke\/EPA<\/p>\n

Today, Musk is no longer in the White House, and some of the administration\u2019s language has tempered. But just as Trump admires Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and his aides exhorted Poland\u2019s newly appointed President Karol Nawrocki, so it follows that he\u2019d be delighted if the AfD were to have a role in the government in Berlin \u2014 though that won\u2019t happen for some time yet.<\/p>\n

Much more immediate, however, are possible moves to have the party banned. Earlier this year, Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency formally declared the AfD a right-wing extremist group<\/a>, saying it was inciting hatred against Muslims and migrants. This classification could now pave the way for the constitutional court to ban the party if asked to do so by the government or parliament. And while many in the SPD \u2014 along with the Greens and the Left party \u2014 are in favor, Merz has made clear he\u2019d regard such an act as counterproductive.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the legal basis for it would be hard to demonstrate. Public opinion is broadly split, with memories of the Weimar Republic sleepwalking toward Nazi victory invoked by one side, and the right to freedom of expression invoked by the other. And even if the ban had a chance of getting through, its consequences would be substantial. As the largest party in several eastern states, the AfD would no doubt point to the \u201cvoice of the people\u201d being \u201cextinguished\u201d by the \u201cdeep state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And last month, we finally witnessed the opening skirmishes of this battle: Just before parliament went into recess,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[32410,13402,30,32,295,2000,299,26386,1105,1945,11070,1824,70618,40,601,23901,6565,6658,6717,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-337414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-alice-weidel","9":"tag-angela-merkel","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elon-musk","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-extremism","16":"tag-far-right","17":"tag-friedrich-merz","18":"tag-german-politics","19":"tag-germany","20":"tag-germany-interpreted","21":"tag-immigration","22":"tag-jd-vance","23":"tag-national-politics","24":"tag-populism","25":"tag-refugees","26":"tag-transatlantic-relations","27":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115013679193510746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}