German Intelligence Labels AfD as Right-Wing Extremist

The AfD's recent electoral success has prompted the German intelligence agency to classify it as a right-wing extremist entity, raising alarms regarding its ideology and implications for future governance.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), has classified the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as a right-wing extremist party. The designation follows the party's recent electoral gains, where it secured 152 seats in the Bundestag during the February federal elections, marking a significant increase in its parliamentary presence.

According to the BfV, the party's ideology, which emphasizes an ethnicity- and ancestry-based concept of citizenship, is incompatible with the principles of the nation’s democratic order. The agency noted that the AfD's stance on migration, particularly towards individuals from predominantly Muslim countries, suggests a refusal to acknowledge them as equal members of German society.

Outgoing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser confirmed that the decision stemmed from an extensive review process conducted without political influence. This classification could enable the use of informants and surveillance tactics against the AfD, previously observed for its extremist tendencies in several eastern states where it has found substantial support.

As the Bundestag prepares for a pivotal vote next week to elect conservative leader Friedrich Merz as chancellor, concerns mount about the impact of the AfD's rising influence on German politics, historically characterized by a resistance to far-right ideologies.