Germany has designated the country’s leading opposition party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as ‘extremist,’ paving the way for a possible ban. The decision to classify the party was taken by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency Verfassungschutz, which operates under the country’s Interior Ministry.
“Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has designated the Alternative for Germany, the country’s second-largest political party, as a right-wing extremist group, a controversial step that could lead to the organisation being banned altogether,” the Belgian news website Euroactiv reported.
The decision to place an ‘extremist’ label on the party was based on “xenophobic, anti-minority, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim statements made by leading party officials,” the Verfassungschutz intelligence agency declared.
The measure is announced as the right-wing party leads most opinion polls. The AfD, which won 152 seats in the 630-seat parliament with 21 percent of the total vote in the recent election, is currently leading in nationwide polls with 26 percent — 2 points ahead of the Germany’s soon-to-be-ruling Christian Democratic (CDU) party.
German state TV Deutsche Welle reported:
Germany’s spy agency BfV has labeled the entirety of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an extremist entity.The BfV, which is in charge of safeguarding Germany’s constitutional order, said Friday’s announcement came after an “intense and comprehensive” examination.The designation gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party, with measures such as intercepting phone calls and using undercover agents.The BfV said in its decision that the “ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order.”It cited the “xenophobic, anti-minority, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim statements made by leading party officials.”The party “aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to treatment that violates the constitution, and thereby assign them a legally subordinate status,” the agency said.The BfV has already designated the AfD in the eastern German states Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt as proven extremist groups.
The Verfassungschutz claimed that AfD’s hostility to Muslim migrants was one of the main reasons behind the ‘extremist’ designation, the French TV channel Euronews reported:
The office, also known as BvF, cited the AfD’s xenophobic stances on ethnicity as the reason for the decision, stating the party was being discriminatory towards non-ethnic Germans. (…)This led the body to determine that the AfD “aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to unconstitutional unequal treatment and thus to assign them a legally devalued status.”It added that the far-right party does not consider people with “a migration history from Muslim-influenced countries as equivalent members of the ethnically defined German people.”
The AfD slammed the move as ‘politically motivated,’ the German state TV channel ARD reported:
Party chiefs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla spoke of a “severe blow to German democracy.” (…)”targeted interference in the democratic decision-making process [as a result of the designation] is clearly politically motivated,” Weidel and Chrupalla declared.The AfD will continue to defend itself by legal means. Party vice-chairman Stephan Brandner spoke of a purely political “battle of the establishment parties against the AfD.” However, as an “unfair measure against the only opposition force,” it was to be expected.
The news comes amid a wider crackdown on popular right-wing parties by European courts and the ruling establishment. In March, Marine Le Pen, the leading challenger to President Emmanuel Macron, was banned by a French court from participating in the 2027 presidential race.
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