Civil society is putting pressure on

While CDU leader Friedrich Merz is working on dismantling the firewall , more and more supporters are forming outside the Reichstag walls to request an AfD ban. The Bundestag is due to discuss this on Thursday. On Wednesday, 400 representatives of East German civil society signed an open letter calling for the review of proceedings to ban the AfD.

We must not allow this right-wing extremist party to continue to undermine democratic institutions and create a climate of fear, said Timo Reinfrank of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. He and other activists from the eastern German states point to threats from the right and a "calculated raid to dismantle our democratic principles."

On Monday, the Republican Lawyers' Association (RAV) announced that 619 lawyers had already signed their open letter - including judges, public prosecutors, notaries and lawyers. "To anyone who still complains that there is not enough evidence of the AfD's hostility to the constitution, which in our eyes there is, I say: It is the job of the Federal Constitutional Court to examine this," said Angela Furmaniak of the RAV. Politicians should finally clear the way for this.

A group around the Green Party politician Renate Künast recently called for another report . Others also consider the request to be premature or, given the AfD's approval ratings, politically unwise, so as not to further reinforce the AfD's role as a victim.

Accordingly, the cross-party motion by 124 members of the Bundestag around CDU member Marco Wanderwitz (CDU), together with members from the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party, has so far not seen a majority. The debate on this is scheduled for Thursday at 5.30 p.m. Many expect that the motion will then be relegated to committee.

It could be referred to the plenary for a decision in the last week of the session in February. But that seems unlikely. Supporter Wanderwitz told the taz: "We are pleased that we are having the debate. Another step forward. Step by step." It is noteworthy that his party, the CDU, is relying on the votes of the AfD for a majority this week for the first time.

In view of this, another initiator, Till Steffen of the Greens, said: "The current debate in particular makes it clear why the ban proposal is so important: extremists poison the discourse and at some point someone like Friedrich Merz will lose his nerve."

That is why the possibility of banning the party and now the AfD need to be examined: It is in the constitution because the Nazi Party's seizure of power showed that democracy can be abolished using democratic means. Hitler only needed 33 percent to become Chancellor, said Steffen.

Martina Renner from the Left Party did not sound too optimistic either: "We are moving towards Austrian conditions faster than I thought. A pact between the Union and a right-wing extremist party on Wednesday and Friday in the vote will only be the beginning, damaging the rule of law, endangering democracy and tearing the conservatives apart."

She will do everything in her power to enable a vote in the Bundestag. And yet there is no sign of a majority - although the number of supporters in parliament has grown in recent weeks