Germany’s Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) made it clear that an AfD-led state government in Saxony-Anhalt could not simply scrap existing law, including marriage equality. If a state government ordered its agencies to disregard laws—for example, by no longer allowing same-sex marriages or by failing to process naturalization applications—the federal government could intervene with what is known as the federal compulsion. “Then the federal government could directly issue the instruction to the responsible state authorities to apply the laws after all,” Hubig told the Funke media group. This would require the approval of the Bundesrat. To date, this remains a purely hypothetical question, and she hopes it stays that way.
Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND): “Federal compulsion is an ultimate measure. But if it should become necessary, the state has the instruments to safeguard democracy, the rule of law, and the liberal democratic order in its entirety.” Should the situation demand it, “we will of course enforce the Basic Law and use all instruments to do so.”
Ex-Verfassungsrichter warnt vor Alarmismus
The former German Federal Constitutional Court Justice Hans-Jürgen Papier is meanwhile warning against alarmism over the AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election. “Democracy itself is not in danger. There is no coup, nor is there a collapse of our constitutional order,” he told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. “I warn against spreading alarmist scenarios. They unnecessarily unsettle the population and erode trust in the rule-of-law democracy.”
A possible AfD government at the state level, he added, would be bound by the norms of the rule of law and federalism. “There are currently no signs that the AfD intends or is capable of tearing this order apart.” He pointed to the role of the Federal Constitutional Court and the two-thirds majorities required in the Bundestag and Bundesrat for constitutional amendments.
Embedded constitutional safeguards
When asked whether Germany could withstand a federal government led by the AfD, Papier said: “Germany has — unlike the Weimar era — robust constitutional safeguards that can prevent the elimination of Germany’s liberal democratic order, regardless of which party might try to do so.” He emphasized the Federal Constitutional Court and the two-thirds majorities in both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat for any Grundgesetz changes.
Papier himself had viewed marriage for all as unconstitutional as recently as 2017 (TheColu.mn reported).
