The President talks about prohibitionThe AfD criticized Steinmeier after the memorial speech
In a speech commemorating the night of the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9, 1938, Federal President Steinmeier emphasized the importance of party banning procedures for a strong democracy. The AfD criticized the speech and accused him of abuse of office.
The AfD reacted with sharp criticism to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s statements about a possible party ban process. “Never before has a Federal President abused his office so much,” the Managing Director of the First Parliament of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, told “Handelsblatt”. AfD leader Alice Weidel told “The Pioneer” portal: “When the AfD was banned, the Federal Republic of Germany de facto ceased to be a democracy.”
Regarding Steinmeier’s speech, Weidel continued: “Respect for the office of Federal President, designed to be non-partisan in the Constitution, prohibits responses to Mr. Steinmeier’s politically motivated statements on the occasion of the anniversary of the joyous anniversary of the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989.”
AfD politicians reacted to Steinmeier’s speech at an event on November 9 at his official residence in Berlin, where he mainly recalled the night of the pogrom against the Jews in 1938. The Federal President did not mention the AfD by name – but he clearly referred to it several times, for example when he called on the party to ban the “ultimate ratio” of defensive democracy, which was its last resort. At the same time, he stressed that society and politics should not remain silent until clear conditions are met.
AfD: Steinmeier compares his party to “Nazi killers”
AfD politician Baumann accused Steinmeier of exceeding his authority as Federal President with his statements. “With the statement ‘We must act’ he called for a ban on the AfD.” Steinmeier wanted to “prevent any cooperation in the parliament with the strongest political forces in Germany in the elections” and on the anniversary of November 9 he wanted to put them “on a par with the Nazi murderers.”
Baumann continued: “While our sister parties from Donald Trump to Giorgia Meloni are already in power and other countries will soon take power, a large part of the green-left political class in Germany is running amok.” Only voters can stop them.
