Indicator history

Yes, there are political parties in Germany that express racist or xenophobic sentiments/discourse in the form of hate speech or promote an anti-migrant and/or anti-minority agenda. The most prominent one is the “National Democratic Party of Germany”, NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD).
Yet, whereas no such political party is represented in the German government or German parliament in 2012, the right-wing extremist political party NPD is represented in the state parliament of Saxony as well as in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In the Saxon state parliament, the NPD has been represented by eight members since 2009. In the state elections of 2011 the candidates of the NPD obtained 5.6 percent of the votes. Five delegates, who represent 6 percent of votes, have been constituting NPD´s state parliamentary group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since the last election in 2011.
Even though represented in both state parliaments, the NPD is not involved in the state governments. At the local level, especially in the eastern states of Germany, the NPD has several municipal mandates.

The democratic parties in Germany have for years been discussing initiating a ban of the NPD. A first attempt to ban the NPD failed in 2003. Again, the submission of a NPD ban request to the Constitutional Court is at the top of the agenda in the German parliament. On 10 December 2012, the Minister-Presidents of the Länder agreed to submit a second NPD ban request to the Constitutional Court. On 14 December 2012 the Federal Council decided to submit the request to the Constitutional Court .

In 2010, the right-wing extremist attitudes of the NPD were especially targeting Muslims, as the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has reported. Furthermore, all groups defined as migrant groups, ethnic or religious minorities are affected by the right-wing policies of the NPD due to their anti-migrant and anti-minority agenda. Besides migrants groups, also gay and lesbian, homeless and disabled people are affected by the policies of the party.

Source:

1. Peucker, Mario / Camp, Joseph / Lechner, Claudia (2010), RAXEN 2010. Thematic Study: Racist and related hate crimes in the EU. Germany. Bamberg: european forum for migration studies (efms).
2. Speit, Andreas (2010), NPD-Politiker Pastörs – Urteil wegen Volksverhetzung bestätigt. Available at: http://www.taz.de/!60024/, Accessed on 29.08.2011.
3. Verfassungsschutzbericht 2010, available at: http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/vsbericht_2010.pdf, Accessed on 07.12.2011.
4. Wolf, Joachim (2007): Die aktuelle NPD-Verbotsdebatte. Eine Chronologie. Available at: http://www.bpb.de/themen/AEUQ3P,0,Die_aktuelle_NPDVerbotsdebatte.html, Accessed on 30.08.2011.
5. Saxon State Parliament (Sächsischer Landtag), Fraktionen, http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/abgeordnete_fraktionen/fraktionen/index.aspx. Accessed on 29.08.2011.
6. Saxon State Parliament (Sächsischer Landtag), Wahlergebnis, http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/landtag/wahlen_gesetzgebung/148.aspx, Accessed on 29.8.2011.
7. State Parliament Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), http://www.landtag-mv.de/landtag/fraktionen.html, Accessed on 07.12.2011.
8. State Parliament Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), http://www.landtag-mv.de/landtag/wahlen-wahlergebnisse/landtagswahl-2006/wahlergebnisse-auf-landesebene.html, Accessed on 07.12.2011.
9. Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung), Background information, ‘Ministerpräsidenten für NPD Verbot’, available at: http://www.bpb.de/politik/hintergrund-aktuell/150988/ministerpraesidenten-fuer-npd-verbot, Accessed on 13.01.2013.

10. Federal Council (Bundesrat) ‘Länder beschließen neues NPD- Verbotsverfahren’, published on 6.12.2012, available at: http://www.bundesrat.de/cln_227/nn_6898/DE/service/thema-aktuell/12/20121214-NPD-Verbot.html?__nnn=true, Accessed on 13.01.2013.