Overview
- SPD parliamentary leaders on Tuesday called for a Bund‑Länder working group to prepare a formal review that could underpin an Article 21(2) application to the Federal Constitutional Court.
- Baden‑Württemberg minister‑president Cem Özdemir says he is in 'permanent conversations' with Bundesrat colleagues and will only seek to start a procedure if the 35‑vote Bundesrat majority looks achievable.
- Several former constitutional judges warned the same week that party‑ban cases are legally demanding, require high standards of evidence and can fail as the earlier NPD attempt showed.
- A Thuringian state parliament expert hearing is scheduled with constitutional scholars and former Verfassungsschutz chief Hans‑Georg Maaßen, while Saxony‑Anhalt’s AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund announced he will stand for minister‑president in December, raising immediate political pressure.
- Any ban effort would be slow and costly because Article 21(2) allows the court to ban parties that seek to dismantle the democratic order, the application must be filed by the Bundestag, Bundesrat or federal government, and even a prepared dossier could take years to resolve and would not by itself change current state‑level power struggles.