Germany's Lower Saxony tries to block state funding for far-right NPD

Berlin (dpa) - Following a ruling earlier in the week from Germany‘s Constitutional Court not to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), the state of Lower Saxony is now trying to block government funding for the party."The NPD is a party that is against the constitution," Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius told Saturday‘s edition of the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung newspaper.The Constitutional Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by lawmakers to ban the NPD, with judges accepting that the party - which is frequently accused of having neo-Nazi links - pursues unconstitutional goals.While its policies may be racist and unpalatable, the judges ruled, the party poses no threat due to dwindling influence and its radical ideology was not enough to merit a ban."We are acting on the reference by the Constitutional Court president [on the NPD‘s unconstitutional goals] and are ensuring with our prompt initiative that funding for parties that oppose the constitution is restricted as much as possible," Pistorius said.The newspaper reported that the Lower Saxony cabinet would set the initiative in motion when it meets on Tuesday.In Germany, political parties that get elected have the right to state funding.The bill before the cabinet states that a robust democracy does not have to accept "that the basic principles of the constitution can be undermined with its own resources."The bill aims to call on the federal government to expand the parts of the German constitution relating to party funding to deny funds to parties that act against the constitution.