Germany prides itself on being a democracy, yet the political establishment’s treatment of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) tells a very different story. The party, which secured 152 seats in the Bundestag and now represents nearly a quarter of German voters, has been met not with the respect due to a legitimate political force, but with systematic exclusion, censorship, and outright contempt. The so-called “firewall” against the AfD is nothing more than an anti-democratic maneuver to silence opposition, betraying the fundamental principles of a free society.
During the March 25 Bundestag session, the establishment wasted no time in making its stance clear: AfD members were denied positions of power that, under normal democratic practice, they would be entitled to based on their parliamentary representation. Their candidate for vice president of the Bundestag, Gerold Otten, was rejected in three consecutive votes, a blatant example of the political class closing ranks to block opposition voices. The justification? The same tired rhetoric about the “far right” and the supposed need for a “cordon sanitaire” to defend democracy.
But real democracy does not need protection from political pluralism—it thrives on it. What is happening in Germany is not the defense of democracy but its suppression. Millions of citizens cast their votes for AfD, yet their representation is being systematically diminished by an entrenched political elite desperate to maintain control. This is not just an attack on one party but on the millions of Germans who dared to challenge the status quo.
This exclusionary strategy is not unique to Germany. Across Europe, political establishments have been using similar tactics to sideline sovereignist and patriotic parties that challenge the globalist, progressive consensus. In the European Parliament, right-leaning groups like Patriots for Europe, European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) have faced the same treatment, systematically denied key committee roles and leadership positions. In 2019, Italian MEP Nicola Procaccini condemned the European Parliament’s informal coalition designed to block nationalist parties from meaningful influence. This is not about defending democracy; it is about controlling it.
The hypocrisy is staggering. The same political elites who label AfD a “threat to democracy” have no qualms about manipulating procedural rules to maintain their grip on power. Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU), for instance, used the previous Bundestag’s final days to pass a multi-billion-euro debt package, ensuring it would not face opposition from the newly strengthened AfD. This kind of political maneuvering, while technically legal, is deeply undemocratic and erodes public trust in the system.
AfD’s continued growth, despite these obstacles, proves that voters are undeterred by the establishment’s fear-mongering. In every regional election, the party gains more support. If the political class continues to deny it proportional representation, they are only fueling its momentum. AfD MP Sascha Lensing put it best: “The more they act like this, the more votes we will receive.”
Democracy is built on the acceptance of election results, even when those results are inconvenient for the ruling elite. If Germany’s political establishment refuses to coexist with sovereignist and patriotic movements, they risk pushing the entire system into a crisis of legitimacy with unpredictable consequences. The firewall against AfD is not a defense of democracy; it is a direct assault on it. And it must end.
