Germany's intelligence agency officially labels far-right AfD as 'extremist'

Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has officially designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a "proven extremist group," marking a significant escalation in government scrutiny of the country’s largest opposition force. The move, announced on Friday, enables authorities to intensify surveillance efforts, including wiretapping communications and recruiting informants within the party.

The classification follows the release of a comprehensive 1,100-page expert report, which found the AfD to be a racist and anti-Muslim organization that promotes an exclusionary, ethnic definition of the German people. “Central to our assessment is the ethnically and ancestrally defined concept of the people that shapes the AfD, which devalues entire segments of the population in Germany and violates their human dignity,” the BfV said.

According to the agency, the AfD's rhetoric fosters "irrational fears and hostility" toward immigrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries. The report emphasized that the party systematically seeks to exclude these groups from equal participation in German society.

The AfD condemned the move as an attack on democracy, while its leaders pledged to challenge the designation. The party had previously been under preliminary observation since 2019 and was labeled a "suspected extremist group" in 2021, a status upheld by multiple German courts.

The new designation reignites debate over whether the AfD should be banned altogether. Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the BfV’s findings but cautioned against hasty legal action to outlaw the party. “I think this is something we shouldn't rush into,” Scholz said at an event in Hannover, pointing to the high legal thresholds required by Germany’s Constitutional Court and past failed attempts to ban other far-right parties, such as the NPD.

Scholz added that any attempt to ban the AfD must be meticulously prepared and supported by solid legal evidence. “It is right that the BfV continues and intensifies its monitoring of the AfD,” he said, noting that the agency’s actions were based on a “factual, thorough, and careful expert investigation.”