A petition signed by 30,000 people was enough for the German bank to hinder the party from receiving donations.
German bank Berliner Volksbank has closed the donation account of the right-wing antiglobalist opposition party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) following a petition by a group calling itself Grandmothers Against the Right (Omas gegen Rechts).
The group launched their petition in May, stating that the bank, which claims to stand for tolerance and against right-wing extremism, should not be allowed to accommodate an account for the AfD. The organisation handed over 33,500 signatures to the bank on Wednesday, July 3rd, to demand the termination of the account, and after meeting the chairman of the board of directors, Carsten Jung, Grandmothers Against the Right announced that their venture has been successful.
Nur 33.500 Unterschriften und die Volksbank (@BeVoBa) macht’s Konto der #AfD dicht. Von Erfolg für die Omas kann man wohl weniger sprechen, eher von Positionierung der Bank! pic.twitter.com/myGJYvOvVl
— Christopher Preußel (@PreusselAfD) July 3, 2024
Though the Berliner Volksbank itself did not confirm the closure of AfD’s account, citing banking secrecy, the fact that donations can no longer be transferred is clearly visible on the party’s website. The only donation option left for supporters of the party is sending money through PayPal.
Gregor Hackmack, a board member of the online petition platform innn.it, through which the signatures were collected, justified the initiative by saying that the AfD is “outside the constitutional order.” It was about reminding the bank of its “values,” Hackmack said, adding that the Berliner Volksbank’s move could now “be an example for other banks,” such as the Berliner Sparkasse, which manages the account of the AfD’s Berlin state association.
The party has not yet publicly commented on the account closure.
AfD, which is currently the second strongest party in Germany and one of the most popular among young voters, is being hounded by the political elite and mainstream media for its anti-immigration stance: there have been calls for the party to be banned for allegedly endangering the democratic order, and it is legally being spied upon by the intelligence services.
The bank account termination is not the first of its kind. As we previously reported, Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader of the party, stated last year that Postbank, a retail banking division of financial institution Deutsche Bank, had terminated his account because he’s an AfD member. He said this not only indicates how the AfD is “excluded and marginalised” from society but also that people are no longer permitted to express their opinions freely in Germany.
De-banking has become a phenomenon all over the Western world, famously brought to the media’s attention by British politician Nigel Farage whose account at the British private bank Coutts was closed due to his political views.
