With twice as many MPs, how will the far right fare in the Bundestag?

BerlinWhen the new German federal parliament is constituted this Tuesday, it will be clearly visible the boost that the extreme right has received. Alternative for Germany (AfD) will occupy twice as many seats as in the last legislature. From 77 to 152 deputies, who will have more rights than ever: more speaking times and greater weight in parliamentary committees.

For now, the rest of the parties have pledged to prevent German extremists from taking over a vice-presidency of the chamber, but their messages designed to work in a reel TikTok's will continue to gain ground; now with greater funding, more staff, and more official offices. The AfD becomes the main opposition group, which traditionally has the role of monitoring the government. Humboldt University researcher and far-right specialist Luke Shuttleworth tells ARA that with all these resources they will maximize the strategy they have outlined in recent years: "they will polarize debates, disrupt parliamentary procedures, and present themselves as victims." Their deputies will be able to present more motions and be the first to respond to the chancellor in debates, he asserts.

Among the 90 new faces in the group are police officers, military personnel, half a dozen lawyers, and, above all, many men aged fifty and over. The most famous AfD figure, Alice Weidel, will continue to lead it alongside Tino Chrupalla, but the group comprises eighteen female and 144 male representatives in total. After the February 23 elections, Weidel posted a photo of all the members on social media, accompanied by emojis of the German flag and the word "Pride."

There are some particularly radical figures. The best known is former MEP Maximilian Krah, who, following his statements whitewashing the Nazi SS, is one of those responsible for the party's isolation from other far-right groups in the European Parliament. Also surprising is the entry of Matthias Helferich, who was excluded from the group in the previous parliamentary term for having written in WhatsApp chats that he was "the friendly face of National Socialism." In addition, there are several members from the immediate circle of the leader of the party's most extremist wing, the Thuringian politician Björn Höcke.

Thuringia is the eastern federal state of Germany. where the far right won a regional election for the first time since World War II last fallThe AfD was excluded from government by the cordon sanitaire, but it has enough seats to block many initiatives in the regional parliament. Although it also failed to win a vice-presidency, its MPs' votes have already prevented, among other things, the election of new judges and prosecutors. It also boycotted the formation of parliamentary committees that other groups don't want them to sit on, such as the one dedicated to the intelligence services, which are investigating the AfD because it is officially classified as an "extremist" organization.

At the federal level, it will currently hold a quarter of the seats and should join forces with the Greens or the more left-wing party, Die Linke, to exert a blockade. However, if the party continues to grow, what is already a reality in Thuringia, it could reach the Bundestag in four years.

What will happen with the cordon sanitaire?

During this new term, the debate on how to interact with the far right will be more lively than ever. During the campaign, the conservative Friedrich Merz (CDU), who will probably be the new chancellor, opened a gap in Europe's tightest cordon sanitaire. For the first time, he relied on the AfD's votes to pass two motions and attempt to pass an anti-immigration law that would limit the number of refugees. According to Shuttleworth, gestures like this and the spread of radical rhetoric among the other parties make the cordon sanitaire ineffective.

The researcher predicts that the AfD will try to collaborate with the conservatives. "That would be dangerous because it would legitimize the far-right's anti-democratic political agenda." "Research in this area shows that when traditional parties collaborate, only the far-right benefits and wins votes," Shuttleworth asserts. On the other hand, some believe that simply isolating the far-right doesn't work, such as Cologne lawyer Frauke Rostalski, who advocated dialogue with the AfD in an article in the weekly Der Spiegel.

For now, there is no consensus on how to prevent the far right from gaining ground. In response to initiatives to ban the party, Merz has stated in several interviews that he is not in favor of it and proposes "fighting it through politics, not through the courts." Kai Arzheimer, professor of political science at the University of Mainz, called for immediate action in an article in the daily newspaper HandelsblattHe considers it crucial to take advantage of the fact that at this point, nearly three-quarters of eligible Germans rule out voting for the AfD: "Democratic parties still have time to put their own issues—economic, social, and environmental policy—on the agenda, instead of letting the AfD drag them into a competition filled with strident slogans.