Far-right NPD ban still unsure

Interior ministers from the 16 German states as well as federal counterpart Hans-Peter Friedrich have delayed a decision on whether to launch a fresh attempt to ban the far-right NPD party. But they have agreed to pull state-sponsored undercover informants - known as V-Leute in German - from the upper echelons of the party from April 2.

"Our goal is to achieve a ban of the NPD," said Ralf Jäger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, adding that it would be a "disaster" if another push to ban the party would fail.

In 2003, the government and both houses of parliament failed in their attempt to ban the party, not least because there were too many informants in the party, which the Constitutional Court saw as a violation of a law prohibiting interference from the state.

Collecting evidence

The interior ministers also agreed to systematically gather and analyze evidence against the NPD. Only "if we have scrutinized the facts" can a fresh attempt at a ban be launched, Jäger said.

For a ban to be acceptable at the EU level, German authorities not only need to prove that the NPD aims to undermine the constitution, they also need to find evidence that they are capable of doing so.

"So, that means: is the party really in a position to implement their undemocratic, anti-freedom agenda and, thus, undermine democracy?" Friedrich posited.

Some, like Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, have expressed doubts over outlawing the NPD, fearing that the far-right could regroup after a ban or come to be viewed as martyrs within the neo-Nazi scene.

The debate about a possible ban came to the fore again last autumn after an apparently well-organized terror group called the National Socialist Underground (NSU) - also known as the Zwickau cell - was found to have murdered nine migrants and a police officer over several years. The group has not been linked to the NPD, which could make a ban more difficult.

ng/dfm (dpa, epd, Reuters)