The AfD, Alternative for Germany, was classified as a right-wing extremist party throughout Germany by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. This previously only applied to three regional branches in the east: Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Since March 2021, the AfD has been listed nationwide as a suspected right-wing extremist group. For this purpose, the local secret service was also allowed to use secret intelligence sources such as informants, surveillance and evaluation of public and private sources. According to the Cologne authorities, it is precisely these observations that have now confirmed the suspicion that the party pursues unconstitutional goals.
"Ethnically defined German people"
The reason for this assessment is "the extremist character of the entire party, which disregards human dignity," the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said. Among other things, it examined statements made by the AfD during the federal election campaign and before three state elections in eastern Germany. Links between AfD politicians and right-wing extremist actors and groups also played a central role in the three-year investigation.
The final assessment: "The prevailing attitude towards the ethnic origin of the people in this party is incompatible with the basic free democratic order. Specifically, for example, the AfD does not consider German citizens with a migration background from Muslim-majority countries to be equal members of the German people, as defined by the party's ethnicity." The comprehensive report on which the party's classification as far-right is based has not been published. But it further reduces the legal obstacles to the AfD's supervision by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
AfD: Politically motivated classification
The AfD itself considers the decision politically motivated. Deputy Chairman Stephan Brandner told the Rheinische Post: "This decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is guided by the law, is complete nonsense in terms of content, has nothing to do with law and order and is a purely political decision in the fight of the cartel parties against the AfD."
The SPD's acting Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, has hit back at the accusation that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is subordinate to the Interior Ministry, had acted on her instructions. "There was no political influence on the new report," Faeser explained. The report itself is in line with Faeser's assessment of the AfD: "Their nationalist stance is reflected in racist statements, especially against immigrants and Muslims," explained Faeser, who has only a few days in office before the new federal government takes office.
Politicians from other parties welcomed the report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, for example, told DPA: "The AfD is not just a protest party, but an extremist right-wing movement that wants to destroy our free and democratic order."
Polls show AfD in slight lead
The AfD has announced legal action against its classification as a "confirmed right-wing extremist party". The party will "continue to defend itself legally against these slanders that endanger democracy", said its two chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. The decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is a "serious blow to German democracy".
What the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's assessment means politically is another matter. In the federal elections on February 23, the AfD won a significant victory with 20.8 percent and is now the second-strongest parliamentary group after the CDU/CSU. The AfD is the strongest opposition party in the upcoming coalition government between the CDU/CSU and the SPD. In recent polls, support for the AfD has increased even further. In some polls, the AfD was on par with or even ahead of the CDU.
Will the AfD be banned?
Many politicians who want the AfD banned see their position confirmed by the new report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Even Marco Wanderwitz from the CDU. He was the initiator of a cross-party parliamentary motion in the Bundestag, which was supported by more than 120 deputies, but which did not come up for a final vote in the previous Bundestag. The deputies wanted the Bundestag to apply to the Federal Constitutional Court to ban the party.
But there are also opponents of the initiative to ban the AfD. Various politicians, constitutional lawyers and political scientists have argued that a successful ban would be legally difficult and would give the AfD a martyr's role from which it would benefit. In addition, other parties should fight the AfD politically and should not try to eliminate political competition by legal means.
Even outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned: "I think this is something that cannot be rushed," Scholz told the Protestant Church Congress in Hanover. The Federal Constitutional Court has rejected all recent requests for a ban. "I am against a hasty decision and therefore I will not say that this is how we should do it."
Interior Minister Faeser stressed that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's assessment of the AfD as a right-wing extremist party and a possible banning procedure are two completely separate things. In the party banning procedure, there are "rightly very high constitutional hurdles". This "cannot be ruled out, but must continue to be treated with great caution". /DW (A2 Televizion)
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