Politician Warns of Neo-Nazi Alliance

A senior conservative German politician has warned of an alliance of far-right forces in Germany which has recently announced to run for seats in the German national parliament in general elections in 2006. Günther Beckstein, interior minister in the state of Bavaria, said on Tuesday that the policy of ignoring the far right must be over and that a more pro-active approach was needed by German politics to combat right-wing elements within society. "We can no longer hush up and conceal the problem, because this will only help the far right in their political efforts," Beckstein said. "We need to go on the offensive especially with regard to the right-wing parties‘ political platforms. We must make especially young people understand what it means when they glorify the Nazi period and see Hitler as a great statesman, or when they are saying they want to undo the entire German political system." The German government failed in an attempt to outlaw the neo-Nazi National Party last year before the country’s highest court.