Access Denied: Lack of Prescription for the Appropriate Medicine

In the political landscape of Germany, the current Black-Red coalition government, comprising the CDU/CSU and SPD, is confronting the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party with a comprehensive strategy.

Security and Surveillance Measures

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) officially classified the AfD as a "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor" in May 2025. This label enables intensified monitoring of the party, potential restrictions on public funding, and state-level initiatives to bar AfD members from public service jobs such as civil servants, police, teachers, and soldiers.

Legal and Political Containment

The government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), supports a careful approach to possible banning or severe restrictions on the AfD, emphasizing a detailed judicial process rather than rapid moves. Meanwhile, several federal states are exploring employment bans for AfD members in sensitive positions to reduce the party’s institutional influence.

Public Messaging and Political Strategy

The ruling parties maintain a firm stance against the AfD’s right-wing narrative by addressing immigration and extremism issues more proactively. This includes continued commitments to social policies, such as rising minimum wage and wealth tax proposals by the SPD, to address economic grievances that partly fuel right-wing support.

Security Investments and Counter-Extremism

The coalition is also engaged in efforts to curb far-right extremist violence, which surged by 23% in 2024, partly associated with AfD-linked individuals. Increasing defense spending and security measures are seen as part of a broader strategy to maintain social stability and counter extremist threats.

Political Positioning Against Migration Extremism

The government has acknowledged the long-term challenge posed by migration policies linked historically to Merkel’s era, which partly contributed to AfD’s rise. Current strategies emphasize controlled immigration policies combined with integration efforts to undercut the AfD’s anti-immigration platform.

While the center, traditionally associated with pragmatism, effectiveness, and security, is wobbling, the Black-Red government is determined to address the AfD threat through intensified constitutional protection measures, limiting AfD’s influence in public institutions, judicial oversight, socio-economic policies to undercut its base, and stronger security responses to right-wing extremism. The government's cautious legal processes aim to avoid hasty political radicalization.

However, the AfD is attempting to split the Union with culture war campaigns, and the SPD's self-presentation as a bulwark against fascism may obscure its lack of a clear strategy against the right. The only current idea to counter the AfD is the Dobrindt model, which involves adopting hard anti-immigration policies.

The Merz government, in office for 100 days, has yet to develop counter-strategies against the right, with Merz and Frei standing for the culturally conservative re-enactment of the republic without gender stars and "refugees welcome." The SPD is playing a somewhat timid role as the guardian of social welfare in the current government. The failure of the Chancellery in the electricity tax affair occurred under the current government, and the Chancellor and his close associates, Jens Spahn, Carsten Linnemann, and Thorsten Frei, have little government experience. The paralyzing debt brake has been largely resolved by the current government.