As AfD grows in popularity, it gets potentially more dangerous — but also harder to ban. This could become a test for democracy and cripple his leadership from the outset.

His countrymen, he declares, will have to ‘engage’ with the AfD, ‘factually and on substance.’

Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that simply banning the far-right Alternative for Germany would not end the groundswell of support for it, noting it was key instead to fight the causes.