Germany officially designates the far-right party “Alternative for Germany” as an extremist organization
At a pivotal moment in Germany’s political life, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) made a historic announcement regarding the country’s largest right-wing force. Following months of detailed investigation and complex analytical work, a decision was announced that "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) should be officially classified as a right-extremist organization. This step does not mean a ban on the party's activities and more resembles an expansion of law enforcement agencies' surveillance capabilities. In a separate statement, officials emphasize that despite this classification, the party remains legal but will be subject to increased government oversight. This decision results from a thorough analysis based on a report exceeding 1,100 pages, which contains numerous pieces of evidence of right-wing extremism within AfD's activities. In particular, the internal report confirms observations of ideological proximity of this political force to extreme right ideologies and its relative institutional and ideological alignment with radical views. Furthermore, this classification significantly broadens the tools available to law enforcement and intelligence agencies for monitoring the party, including the possibility of conducting phone tap operations and employing undercover measures. Official sources highlight that this status opens the way for more active monitoring of AfD’s activities, including the use of intelligence and counterintelligence resources. The formal recognition of this status has ignited political debates in Germany, especially regarding the potential ban of the party’s activities. According to procedure, the initiative to ban must be submitted by relevant bodies — the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the government — to the Constitutional Court, which will review the legality of such a ban. All political players, including opposition forces, welcome this news, considering it an important step in the fight against right-wing extremism. It is worth recalling that in the early parliamentary elections, AfD achieved a historic success — 152 seats in the Bundestag, more than doubling its previous results. The party has become a major opposition force, with particularly high support in the eastern federal states, such as Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt. Recent polls show that AfD has, for the first time, ranked first in support among all German political parties. This development has elicited active reactions from traditional political forces, including the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). They unanimously called for stronger control mechanisms and expressed concerns about the possible involvement of AfD deputies in work on parliamentary oversight committees, especially those monitoring security and intelligence services. Government representatives and independent experts emphasize that classifying AfD as an extremist right-wing organization opens new opportunities for effective countermeasures against radicalization and the promotion of extremist ideologies within the country’s political arena. At the same time, this initiative has sparked broad public resonance and coalition discussions on future legal steps, which may include restricting or banning the activities of this political force. Thus, the situation surrounding "Alternative for Germany" marks a turning point in the country's political history that could influence the future course of German politics and security overall. Against the backdrop of rising support for right-wing movements and intensifying debates about the limits of political tolerance, this case remains one of the key topics on Germany’s contemporary political agenda.