Outgoing education minister loses case against AfD
February 27, 2018
Federal ministers must exercise restraint in disputes between parties, Germany's Constitutional Court has ruled. The complaint against Education Minister Johanna Wanka was brought by the far-right opposition AfD party.
Judges said Wanka, who is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), breached the rule that cabinet ministers must be neutral in how they treat all political parties.
Constitutional Court president Andreas Vosskuhle also noted that it is not the role of government agencies to encourage citizens to either boycott or take part in demonstrations.
AfD party head Alexander Gauland praised the court's ruling, saying: "Thank God there are still judges in Karlsruhe." Co-head Jörg Meuthen said the decision "should be a lesson for other government ministers."
The friendly faces of the AfD? Germany's new parliamentary representatives
After the 2017 election, the far-right populist party enters the Bundestag for the first time. But who exactly are some of the Alternative for Germany's representatives — and what have they said and done?
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/E. Contini
Siegbert Droese
The head of the AfD in Leipzig was the center of controversy in 2016 when newspapers reported that a car in his motor pool had the license plate: "AH 1818." "AH" are the initials of Adolf Hitler. 1 and 8, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, are considered a code for Adolf Hitler among neo-Nazi groups.
Image: Imago/J. Jeske
Sebastian Münzenmaier
As the AfD's lead candidate in Rhineland-Palatinate, the 28-year-old Münzenmaier cruised to a seat in the Bundestag. Münzenmaier made headlines in October when he was convicted of being an accessory to assault in a case of football hooliganism. But because that's considered a minor offense, he is able to exercise his mandate.
Image: Imago/S. Ditscher
Albrecht Glaser
The 75-year-old former CDU man is the AfD's choice for Bundestag vice-president, but members of the other parties say they won't approve his candidacy. Glaser once opined that Muslims shouldn't enjoy freedom of religion because Islam is a political ideology. Critics reject that view as unconstitutional.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Markus Frohnmaier
Frohnmaier is the chair of the party's youth organization, Junge Alternative. The 28-year-old wrote in August 2016 on Facebook that "our generation will suffer the most" from Merkel's decision to "flood this country with the shoddy proletariat from Africa and the Orient."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Weißbrod
Martin Reichardt
The former soldier from Lower Saxony once told a journalist that he had no problem with "Germany for the Germans," a phrase that is often used by neo-Nazi groups. He has also collectively described the Green Party and The Left party as "constitutional enemy No. 1."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Bein
Wilhelm von Gottberg
The 77-year-old from Brandenburg was vice president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) until 2012. He wrote in the newspaper "Ostpreussenblatt" in 2001 that he agreed with the statement that the Holocaust was a "myth" and an "effective instrument to criminalize the Germans and their history."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Brakemeier
Jens Maier
In January, the Dresden judge railed against the "creation of mixed nationalities" that are "destroying national identity." He has also called for an end to Germany's "culture of guilt" surrounding the country's actions in the Second World War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
Beatrix von Storch
The AfD's vice-chair is an MP in the European parliament and is known for her hardline conservative views. In 2016, she replied affirmatively to a Facebook user who had asked her whether armed force should be used to stop women with children from illegally entering Germany. She later apologized for the comment.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Alexander Gauland
One of the AfD's top candidates, Gauland was widely criticized after suggesting that the German government's commissioner for integration, Aydan Özoguz, should be "disposed of" in Turkey because she had said that there was no specifically German culture beyond the German language.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Murat
Alice Weidel
The 38-year-old economist was the AfD's other top candidate. Despite living in Switzerland, Weidel ran for the Baden-Württemberg constituency of Bodensee. She drew criticism for describing Germany's integration commissioner Aydan Özoguz, who has Turkish roots, as a "stain" and a "disgrace." In a contested email attributed to Weidel, she called Angela Merkel's government "pigs" and "puppets."
Image: Getty Images/S. Schuermann
Frauke Petry
For a long time Frauke Petry was the face of the AfD, and she's one of the more recognizable figures in the Bundestag. But she's no longer a member of the right-wing populist party. Petry quit shortly after the election after falling out with other leaders. Because she won her voting district outright, she still gets a Bundestag mandate, where she sits as an independent.
Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress
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Red card over ministry statement
The case dates back to the height of Germany's crisis over hundreds of thousands of refugee arrivals. At the time, AfD supporters called for a "red card" demonstration in Berlin to protest Merkel's migration policy.
In response, Wanka said in an Education Ministry press statement: "The red card should be shown against the AfD and not against the federal chancellor."
The AfD in turn submitted an urgent petition to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, resulting in the Education Ministry being required to remove her statement from its website.
Back in 2015, the AfD held opposition seats in numerous regional assemblies. In last September's federal election, it entered the federal Bundestag parliament, becoming the largest opposition grouping.
Under a part Cabinet line-up announced by Merkel on Monday, Wanka, 57, who some time ago intimated her exit from Cabinet, would be replaced as education minister by CDU newcomer Anja Karliczek, 46.
Wanka in profile
Wanka originates from Saxony in former communist East Germany (GDR). She studied mathematics in Leipzig and received her doctorate in 1980.
During the peaceful uprising in 1989 she helped found a citizens' opposition group in Merseburg, where in 1994, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she became rector of Merseburg's university of applied science.
From 2010 until 2013 she was regional minister for science and culture in Hannover, the capital of Germany's northern state of Lower Saxony.