Overview

• Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has formally designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist group, citing threats to human dignity and democracy.
• This classification grants authorities powers to monitor the party through secret surveillance, including informants and communication interception.
• The agency’s 1,000-page report highlights AfD's ethnic-based ideology as incompatible with Germany's democratic order and constitutional values.
• AfD, now the second-largest party in the Bundestag with 152 seats, has condemned the move as politically motivated and vowed to challenge it legally.
• The decision has drawn international reactions, with Germany defending it as a democratic safeguard, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized it as authoritarian.