By IRNA,
Berlin : German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble here Thursday expressed skepticism on chances for outlawing the far- right National Democratic Party (NPD).
Presenting the annual report of Germany’s domestic secret service (Verfassungsschutz) at a news conference in Berlin, Schaeuble stressed there are no “prospects for a success” in banning the NPD.
He was referring to mounting public calls to prohibit the neo-Nazi party.
The German government is deeply wary of a new legal bid to bar the NPD after the country’s highest court in 2003 blocked a previous attempt to ban the right-wing extremist party.
The court refused to hear the case because the government cited statements by party members who turned out to be paid informers for state authorities.
The far-right party is not represented in the German parliament but has secured seats in the assemblies of two east German states.
In February, German police raided NPD headquarters in Berlin, arresting the party’s treasurer Erwin Kemna on financial corruption charges.
The NPD has faced severe financial problems over the past months.
Meanwhile, Schaeuble warned of the continuing danger of right-wing extremism, saying it had to be “combated politically.”
He also urged “better preventive” measures to fight neo-Nazi ideology which is gaining widespread support among younger people, especially in former communist East Germany.
Neo-Nazi groups are mainly concentrated in economically depressed eastern Germany, which has yet to recover from the whiplash transition from communism to capitalism.
German authorities are also confronted with a new neo-Nazi public relations strategy which tries to portray Nazi ideology as mainstream.
Neo-Nazis living in especially east German states have managed to develop grassroots organizations which are hard for authorities to detect.
Neighborhood groups, cultural and sports clubs and information centers have sprung up and are used to brainwash people with Nazi propaganda.
Other programs include children and street festivals, traditional German dancing, mountain hiking and skiing trips as well summer camps.