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4mo ago

Germany Labels AfD a Proven Extremist Organization, Expanding Surveillance Powers

The designation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency intensifies scrutiny of the far-right party, threatens its funding, and prompts legal and political backlash domestically and internationally.

Supporters of the Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wear morph suits and wave flags during an event to rally support for Sunday's European Parliament elections at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) wave flags as they take part in an AfD campaign rally in Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Christian Mang/File Photo
The AfD logo is pictured on stage before an election campaign rally of Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the Alternative for Germany in Thuringia, the state in east Germany where polls say his party could take 29% of the vote in September, in Arnstadt, Germany, July 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Escritt/File Photo
(FILES) Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, addresses delegates during a party congress on January 11, 2025 in Riesa, eastern Germany. Germany's AfD party on May 2, 2025 criticised the intelligence services' move to label it a right-wing extremist group as a "heavy blow" to democracy and vowed to mount a legal challenge. "The AfD as an opposition party is now being publicly discredited and criminalised," its co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement, charging that the decision was "clearly politically motivated". (Photo by JENS SCHLUETER / AFP) (Photo by JENS SCHLUETER/AFP via Getty Images)

Overview

  • Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution officially classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a proven extremist organization, citing its ethnic-exclusion ideology and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
  • The designation lowers legal barriers for surveillance measures, including wiretaps, informants, and monitoring of party activities, marking a significant escalation in state oversight.
  • AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla condemned the move as politically motivated and vowed to challenge it in court, framing it as an attack on democracy.
  • The decision has reignited calls within Germany to ban the party, though Interior Minister Nancy Faeser emphasized the need for a careful legal process to evaluate such measures.
  • U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the classification as undemocratic, while Germany's foreign ministry defended it as a constitutional safeguard against extremism.