While Spain's Vox devours its own children in an act of political cannibalism, Germany's AfD faces an existential threat from the state. The European right is entering a phase where its fate is decided by judges, not voters.
It is not a good week for the architects of the new right in Europe. The mechanisms that were supposed to carry them to power are beginning to grind under the pressure of internal purges and external legal pressure. We are observing two parallel processes of decay: one manually controlled by party leaders in Madrid, the other triggered by the state machinery in Hanover.
The common denominator of the events of the last 48 hours is the transition from a struggle for votes to a struggle for the survival of structures. Politics is ceasing to be the art of persuasion and is becoming the domain of prosecutors, investigative commissions, and constitutional tribunals. In both Spain and Germany, democratic procedures are becoming a minefield where the ambitions of local warlords and the strategies of national leaders explode.
The Spanish Inquisition within its own ranks. Events within the Vox party resemble a classic scenario of a revolution that begins to eat its own children. The expulsion of Javier Ortega Smith, a former pillar of the group, is not a simple personnel reshuffle. It is a signal that Santiago Abascal has chosen the path of hermeticization, even at the cost of political coherence.
The accusations hurled by José Ángel Antelo, speaking of a „factory of lies and hoaxes,” shatter the myth of the party as an ideological monolith. This conflict, in which Juan García-Gallardo threatens his own group with legal action, exposes a fundamental weakness of anti-establishment formations: the lack of capacity to manage internal pluralism. When an external enemy is lacking, the structure begins to implode.
Parallel to this is the case of influencer Vito Quiles and journalist Sarah Santaolalli. The judge's decision to reject a restraining order was immediately forged by Quiles into a narrative of innocence. This is a cynical game with legal definitions, which nevertheless effectively polarizes the electorate, diverting attention from the systemic chaos within the party.
„La dirección de Vox es una fábrica de mentiras y bulos.” (The leadership of Vox is a factory of lies and hoaxes.) — José Ángel AnteloGerman Militant Democracy. While the Spanish right is preoccupied with itself, the political system in Germany is going on the offensive. The SPD and Green coalition in Lower Saxony is not playing halfway. The motion to examine the constitutionality of the AfD is the activation of the „nuclear option” in the German legal system.
The applicants' argument is based on the assumption that the party's activities strike at the foundations of the free order. This is a risky move. If the Federal Constitutional Court rejects the motion, the AfD will receive a certificate of democratic purity that will be impossible to challenge during the election campaign. The risk of procedural defeat is real, and the stakes are at their maximum.
A completely different dynamic prevails in the Spree-Neiße district. There, in the shadow of high politics, a battle for the seat of landrat is underway. Local structures of the CDU and SPD are trying to build a „cordon sanitaire,” threatening the region's isolation and the loss of EU subsidies. This is a besieged fortress strategy.
For voters in Lusatia, tired of the energy transition, arguments about constitutionality may sound abstract compared to promises of protecting local industry. A potential victory for the AfD candidate in this district would be proof that the administrative barriers erected in Hanover or Berlin are ineffective when faced with real social sentiments in the east of the country.
The German Basic Law provides for a procedure to ban a party that seeks to overthrow the democratic order. Historically, the Constitutional Court has rarely used this right, as exemplified by the failed attempts to ban the neo-Nazi NPD in 2003 and 2017.Paralysis as a Political Method. The effects of this polarization are visible in the decision-making paralysis at the regional level. In Extremadura, the candidacy of María Guardiola from the PP is hitting a wall of Vox demands. The dispute over immigration policy and gender-based violence laws is not just a programmatic difference. It is a trial of strength in which the smaller partner (Vox) holds the entire region hostage.
This situation leads to an absurdity where the threat of repeating elections becomes a real scenario. In Castile and León, the debate ahead of the elections scheduled for March 15 has been dominated by accusations of creating „pincers” (tactical alliances). Alfonso Fernández Mañueco must fight on two fronts: against Luis Tudanca's left and his former coalition partner on the right.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, an investigative commission is examining whether the public administration has become a political tool in the hands of the current government. Reports by „Süddeutsche Zeitung” about pressure regarding the awarding of cultural grants show the other side of the coin. If officials broke budgetary discipline under political pressure, then accusations of damaging the state cannot be directed solely at populists.
Critics of banning the AfD, including columnists for „Süddeutsche Zeitung,” rightly point out that moving political battles into courtrooms is a double-edged sword. Eliminating competition through administrative methods can be perceived as an admission of substantive weakness. If democracy must resort to bans to survive, is it still strong by the power of its arguments?
The answer to this question is provided by the actions of the PSOE, which organizes bus transport for supporters to artificially boost attendance at Pedro Sánchez's rallies. This is a desperate attempt to create an image of support that does not necessarily match reality. On the other hand, Vox, by marginalizing people like Ortega Smith, is depriving itself of personnel capable of actual governance.
The outlook for Europe is troubling. We face a period in which election results will be questioned even before they are announced, and the legitimacy of the winners challenged through court procedures. In Madrid, the right is tightening the noose around its own neck; in Berlin, its opponents are weaving that noose. In both cases, the victim is trust in institutions.
You can ban a political party in court, you can expel its leader from the ranks, but you cannot decree away the social anger that feeds these parties. This anger, deprived of representation, will not evaporate – it will simply find another, likely more radical, outlet.
March 15 — The date of the key elections in Castile and León, which will define the balance of power on the Spanish right.
„Unsere Demokratie muss wehrhaft gegenüber denjenigen sein, die sie von innen heraus zerstören wollen.” (Our democracy must be capable of defending itself against those who want to destroy it from within.) — Coalition representative
Perspektywy mediów: Liberal media emphasize authoritarianism within Vox and the necessity of legal protection of democracy against the AfD. Conservative media focus on the politicization of courts and attempts to administratively eliminate competition.