German intelligence agencies are to continue investigating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) until after February’s elections, security sources told dpa on Wednesday, as a regional court dealt the party a further blow.
The party – which is currently second in national polls – has been classified by security services as a suspected right-wing extremist group, allowing officers to monitor its activities including through the use of surveillance and informants.
In October, the president of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said the body would reach a decision on whether to re-evaluate the party’s status before the end of the year.
However, the assessment by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) is now expected to be delayed after Germany’s top political parties on Tuesday agreed a timetable to bring forward next year’s parliamentary elections.
The agency is due to evaluate whether the party remains a suspected threat to the constitutional order.
Former BfV president Thomas Haldenwang said in October that he considered it “extremely unlikely” that the agency would end its operations.
The AfD has also lodged legal appeals against the classification, but it was handed a major blow in May when a regional court upheld the intelligence agency’s assessment, allowing it to continue investigating the party. The legal dispute is still ongoing.
Court: State AfD chapter can remain under investigation
The AfD has seen a resurgence in recent polls and performed strongly in September’s state elections in eastern Germany.
It even finished top in Thuringia, becoming the first far-right party to do so in a German state election since the Nazi era.
The party’s signature issue is a hardline anti-immigration stance, and it has profited from increased concern among many German voters over rising numbers of people seeking asylum in the country.
But the AfD remains an outcast on the national political scene, with mainstream parties continuing to reject co-operation with the party.
It has also repeatedly attracted the attention of intelligence agencies for its extremist views.
In another setback for the AfD on Wednesday, the Baden-Württemberg Administrative Court rejected a complaint against the classification of the party’s chapter in the south-western state as a suspected right-wing extremist organization.
The Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution first made the assessment in July 2022, allowing its agents to monitor the AfD’s activities in the state, including through surveillance and informants.
The Mannheim-based court said its ruling on Wednesday – confirming a previous decision by a lower court – is based on indications of discrimination in the party against German nationals with a migrant background and of vilification of Muslims in Germany.
The decision cannot be appealed.
The AfD’s leader in the state described the court’s ruling as “just absurd.”
Markus Frohnmaier, who was born in Romania, told dpa: “The AfD is so inclusive that it has elected a party leader with Romanian roots.”
“The AfD does not want Germans with and without a migrant background to be treated unequally under the law,” he added.
