A constitutional amendment has been discussed in Thuringia for a long time. An initiative now wants the fight against right-wing extremism to be declared a state goal.
Erfurt/Kloster Veßra (dpa/th) – In the ranks of the Thuringian civil alliances against right-wing extremism, there are voices that advocate an anti-fascism clause in the state constitution. “The fight against right-wing extremism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism is a core task of the state,” said Thomas Jakob, spokesman for the Alliance for Democracy and Cosmopolitanism at Kloster Veßra. It is therefore logical if this claim is also anchored in the Thuringian constitution.
According to Jakob’s conviction, such a clause would result in concrete requirements for the police and the judiciary, among other things. “Every state institution would then have to constantly question itself in order to answer: ‘What are you actually doing to do justice to this constitutional mandate?'”.
In Thuringia, possible changes to the state constitution have been discussed for a long time. The state parliament has formed its own constitutional committee to deal with proposals. However, there has so far been no agreement between the red-red-green minority coalition and the opposition CDU parliamentary group on possible changes. Since this requires a two-thirds majority in the state parliament, they are practically impossible without an agreement between the four parliamentary groups.
Alliance spokesman Jakob recently called for a stronger commitment by the state against right-wing extremism at a conference of the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior. German democracy rests on the foundations of the Basic Law and cannot be neutral towards those who long for its abolition and are working towards it. It is unacceptable if some Thuringian local politicians or administrative officials take the view that right-wing extremists must also be granted everything that their opponents claim for themselves. He encounters such an attitude again and again, said Jakob.
In the past, the left-wing parliamentary group had also proposed anchoring commitment against racism, anti-Semitism, fascism and neo-Nazism as a state goal in the Thuringian constitution. The Alliance for Democracy and Cosmopolitanism Kloster Veßra is mainly active in the district of Hildburghausen, which in recent years has developed into a hotspot for right-wing extremist activities not only in Thuringia, but nationwide.
