German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to fire federal police officers who are members of, or actively support, the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
According to Junge Freiheit, an internal police memo issued to staff refers to a decree issued by Faeser, and warns officers that they face legal consequences—possibly even their dismissal from the force—if their membership in a party that has been classified as “extremist” becomes known. A continuous, active membership in such a party “raises doubts about the civil servant’s loyalty to the constitution,” the document goes on to say.
The wording naturally applies first and foremost to the AfD, which was designated as an “extremist” organisation by the country’s domestic intelligence agency. The AfD responded by saying that Nancy Faeser has threatened police officers with a “de facto occupational ban.”
The co-leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel said:
Politically motivated purges in state institutions only happen in dictatorships, and are a danger to democracy.
Constitutional law professor Volker Boehme-Neßler called Faeser’s decree a “real scandal,” explaining that the German constitution guarantees the right of civil servants to be members of a party that is not banned.
As we previously reported, the court process for removing public servants from office has been abolished, opening the door for political arbitrariness. As of last year, the state has the unilateral authority to determine whether someone is an ‘extremist.’ This puts Faeser at the centre of this push to rid the police force of officers with right-wing views.
The revelations are unsurprising: for the past few years, the establishment parties have been doing everything in their power to undermine the credibility of their main political rival and to vilify its supporters.
The party won its first ever state election in Thuringia in September, receiving a third of the votes, and it is currently on course to finish second in the national elections at the end of February. It is polling at 20-22%, which would be its best performance since it was founded in 2013.
The domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD as an “extremist” organisation, allowing it to spy on its members. Senior establishment politicians have repeatedly called for the party to be banned. It is ironic: the party accused of wanting to undermine the constitution and the democratic order is being undemocratically pursued by its political foes.
Faeser, as interior minister, has been especially active in trying to silence dissenting opposition voices that have called out the left-liberal government for its failed policies.
During her time in office, which is slowly grinding to a halt, the social democrat politician has attempted to turn Germany into a police state: trying to ban government-critical right-wing media, filing criminal charges against a journalist for publicly mocking her, censoring free speech online, and proposing that the police conduct secret raids on homes to target anyone who “attempts to destabilise the constitutional order.”
