Profile: The NPD

The NPD is the main political party of the German far-right, and – for obvious historical reasons – no other German political party is quite as emotive.

That said, despite the party’s questionable heritage, the NPD is not particularly unusual when compared other European far-right parties. It’s dominated by disaffected men trotting out the greatest hits: nationalism – German jobs for German workers; xenophobia – expel foreigners, particularly asylum seekers; with a sprinkling of heavy-handed socialist policies – pay mothers €1000 per month to stay at home and raise children.

Hang on – haven’t we heard that somewhere else?

Their association with even more extreme groups and individuals has, of course, drawn the attention of the intelligence services – the edging on unaccountable Office for Constitutional Protection. The use of widespread infiltration by paid intelligence officers and informants was intended to keep the party (as well as the whole far-right scene) in check, but instead gave the NPD legal protection; an attempt to ban them a decade ago failed because the Constitutional Court decided too many senior members of the NPD were working for the German state.

As it remains a legal political party, the NPD receives a seven-figure state grant each year – broadly proportional to their share of the vote. This, along with the series of far-right terrorist attacks over the past decade spurred interior ministers from the German states to make a new attempt to ban the NPD.

To remain legal (and receive money), German political parties must conform to and pledge to uphold the constitution – something the NPD claims to do, at least on paper. If the states can prove the opposite, it will be the end of the NPD – until the next far-right party pops up.

Distilling this silliness down:
The NPD is a party democratically elected to state parliaments, funded by German taxpayers and was – to a certain extent – controlled by paid operatives of the German state. And another branch of the German state may now ban it – for being an enemy of the system that pays their bills. Quite a mess.