Germany’s domestic intelligence agency pauses its classification of the AfD as a right-wing extremist group, awaiting a court decision. AfD leaders welcome the development.
Germany’s federal domestic intelligence service has suspended its designation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a right-wing extremist group, pending a judicial decision, Reuters reported.
The development was confirmed Thursday following a statement from the administrative court in Cologne, which is reviewing a legal injunction filed by the party.
Until a formal ruling is issued, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has agreed to refrain from publicly referring to the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist movement.”
The classification had generated fierce debate across Germany’s political spectrum, with calls from some lawmakers for the party to be outlawed. The AfD, in turn, described the BfV’s move as an assault on democratic values.
Designating a political party as extremist allows German intelligence services to increase surveillance activities, including the use of informants and the monitoring of internal communications. However, those measures are currently on hold.
“The measures associated with the classification will also be suspended,” a court spokesperson noted, without providing further detail.
An internal report compiled by the BfV, totaling over 1,000 pages and not publicly available, reportedly characterizes the AfD as a group driven by racist and anti-Muslim ideologies.
AfD, which was formed in 2013, entered Germany’s national parliament with 12.6% of the vote in 2017.
The party has a history of controversial statements, particularly surrounding the Holocaust. The party’s leader, Björn Höcke, caused a firestorm in February of 2017 when he suggested that Germany should end its decades-long tradition of acknowledging and atoning for its Nazi past.
AfD chairman Alexander Gauland in 2018 described the Nazi period as a mere “speck of bird poo in over 1,000 years of successful German history”.
He had previously asserted, however, that Jews should not fear the strong election showing by AfD and indicated that he was ready to meet with German Jewish leaders “at any time.”
Late last year, AfD announced its decision to dissolve and replace its youth wing, the Junge Alternative (“Young Alternative”), which has been classified as an extremist group by German intelligence services.
