The German domestic secret service has classified the entire AfD party in Germany as a suspected right-wing extremist case. This means that the party can now also be spied on using intelligence services. According to information from the German Press Agency, the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, informed the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution about this on Wednesday in an internal video conference.
Image: APA (dpa)
First, the “Spiegel” reported on the decision. “The procedure of the protection of the constitution is scandalous,” said the AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla. “Although the authority is not allowed to announce the classification as a suspected case, it is launching appropriate information to the media in order to influence the democratic party competition to the detriment of the AfD.”
Due to ongoing legal proceedings, the Federal Office is currently not issuing a public statement on the question of the AfD's assessment. “With a view to the ongoing proceedings and out of respect for the court, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not making a public statement on this matter,” the Cologne authority said on request.
This week, however, the Federal Office gave the Cologne administrative court extensive insight into its assessment of the AfD. The AfD defends itself in an urgent procedure with legal means against a possible classification as a right-wing extremist suspected case. In principle, this classification also enables informants to be recruited who report from the party to the domestic secret service.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was founded in 2013. Originally, critics of the euro bailout policy spoke there. Over the years the party moved more to the right. Many of the founding members have left the AfD again.
After the refugee crisis in 2015, the AfD was able to gain significantly in elections. It is now represented in all 16 German state parliaments and is the third largest parliamentary group in the Bundestag. In the East German federal states (except Berlin) it came to over 20 percent in state elections. In Germany-wide surveys, it is currently 9 to 11 percent below its 2017 Bundestag election result (12.6 percent).
