Germany moves to stop public funding for far-right party

BERLIN – Germany’s top security official is proposing a law change to stop a far-right party from receiving public funds.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday after consultations with the Justice Ministry and Finance Ministry he’d submitted a proposal for legal amendments to the heads of parties in Parliament, where the changes would have to be made.

Germany’s supreme court in January rejected a government bid to ban the National Democratic Party, known as NPD, on accusations it pursued a racist and anti-Semitic agenda. That would have ended public funding.

The party has no seats in Parliament, but is represented at the local level and receives money like other parties based upon electoral performance.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas backed de Maiziere’s idea, saying “the state must not finance enemies of democracy.”