German Spy Agency Pauses ‘Extremist’ AfD Classification

AfD joint leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said that it was ‘an important first step toward actually exonerating us.’

Alice Weidel (C) and Tino Chrupalla (center R), both AfD federal chairmen, at the AfD party headquarters during the European elections, in Berlin on June 9, 2024. Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP

Germany’s domestic spy agency will temporarily refrain from classifying the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) as an “extremist” organization.

On May 8, the agency said it would not publicly refer to the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist movement” until a court has ruled on an AfD motion to issue a temporary injunction.

After having regarded the AfD as a suspected extremist movement since 2021, the country’s domestic intelligence service, Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known as the BfV, officially announced the designation on May 2.

Reacting to the pause, AfD joint leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel posted a statement on social media platform X, saying: “We are defending ourselves with all legal means against the reclassification by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

“This is an important first step toward actually exonerating us and thus countering the accusation of right-wing extremism.”

Such a designation subjects the party, which came second in the national elections in February, to greater surveillance from state authorities, meaning government officials can use informants and other tools such as audio and video recordings to monitor the party’s activities across Germany.

BfV had said that the party posed a threat to the country’s democratic order, saying the AfD “disregards human dignity,” in particular by what it called “ongoing agitation” against illegal immigrants.

It had compiled a 1,100-page experts’ report on the subject that it says will not be released to the public.

It said that AfD’s approach to ethnicity is “not compatible with the free democratic basic order” and that the party does not consider German nationals with a migration background from Muslim-origin countries as equal members of the German people.

Stephan Brandner, AfD’s deputy federal spokesman, told The Epoch Times that the classification was “absurd.”

Brandner said that this has “nothing to do with law and order and is a purely political in the fight of the cartel parties against the AfD.”

The party has also sued BfV.

On May 6, the Bundestag elected CDU political leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor, and his cabinet was sworn in the same day.

Among its members was Alexander Dobrindt, a CSU politician from the Bavarian sister party of Merz’s CDU, who took office as federal minister of the interior, meaning the BfV now falls under his ministry’s authority.

Prior to that, SDP politician Nancy Faeser had ministerial oversight and, among her objectives, had the stated aim of fighting “right-wing extremism.”

This included plans “to safeguard the independence of the Federal Constitutional Court more strongly against the influence of anti-democratic forces.”

“Those who ridicule the government must be met with a strong government in return,” she said. “When it comes to right-wing extremists, we must leave no stone unturned.”

Merz is in a coalition with the SDP, which signaled that it wanted to ban the party.

In a statement, SPD deputy leader Serpil Midyatl said her party has “absolutely rightly led the discussion about a party ban in recent months” and that it will be the subject of a forthcoming party congress.

“It is clear to me that the ban must come,” she stated.

On May 4, Dobrindt said it was unlikely the AfD party would be banned.

“I’m skeptical, because the aggressive, combative nature of the party against our democracy must be a defining characteristic. The Constitutional Court was right to set high hurdles for banning a party,” Dobrindt said.

“[I am] convinced that the AfD does not need to be banned; it needs to be governed away, and we need to talk about the issues that have made the AfD so big.”

Guy Birchall and Reuters contributed to this report.