German Chancellor Merz Doubts AfD Ban Will Succeed

Merz's skepticism highlights a political calculation: pursuing a ban with a high legal bar risks a high-profile failure that could energize the AfD's base, while doing nothing to tackle the underlying voter grievances. The significance is less about the ban's legal merits and more about how this stance shapes coalition dynamics and the mainstream right's strategy ahead of elections. The key question is whether this pragmatic distancing will contain the AfD's rise or merely cede more ground to it as the party positions itself as the only force addressing those concerns.