Photo: DPAGerman lawmakers voted Thursday to cut off public financing for extremist parties, a measure targeting the far-right NPD after two failed attempts by parliament to ban it. Under German law, every political party receives funding from the state. The drafters of Germany's post-war constitution set high hurdles for banning a party, mindful of the elimination of dissent in Hitler's Germany. Only two political parties have been outlawed since 1945 - the SRP, a Nazi successor party, in 1952, and the West German Communist Party (KPD) in 1956. With around 6,000 members, the NPD, which at the height of its movement had seats in several state parliaments, now only has one representative, Udo Voigt, in the European Parliament.

Source: The Local June 22, 2017 15:56 UTC