German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday threw cold water on a motion by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) calling for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to be banned.
Dobrindt is a member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which leads a coalition government with the SPD.
At the close of its three-day congress in Berlin, the SPD passed a motion calling for preparations to ban the far-right AfD, after the party was classified as a “right-wing extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
That designation has been suspended pending a legal challenge by the AfD.
In a statement to the news agency dpa, the Green Party said it agrees with the SPD’s position.
Speaking to the “Table.Today” podcast on Sunday, Dobrindt said “decisions made at the SPD party conference are not yet a mandate for the interior minister.”
Dobrindt instead called for a cautious approach and to allow for the legal process to play out.
He said a federal-state interior ministers working group will address the AfD issue if the “right-wing extremist” designation is upheld in court.
The working group is awaiting a ruling from the Cologne Administrative Court on whether it agrees with the “extremist” designation.
Dobrindt, as well as Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), have previously said they are skeptical of banning the AfD, which is known for its nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and Eurosceptic policies.
The AfD has grown in popularity over the past decade to become Germany’s largest opposition party.
