Germany Declares Far-Right AfD “Extremist”

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency formally designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party an extremist group over the weekend, deepening the political isolation of the country’s largest opposition party and triggering swift condemnation from senior US officials and right-wing allies, NPR reported.

On Friday, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) – Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – released a 1,000-page report following a three-year investigation into the AfD.

The agency concluded that the AfD is a “proven right-wing extremist organization,” saying the party violated key constitutional principles, aimed to undermine democracy, and wanted to exclude certain groups from society.

Observers noted that the designation was not “a huge surprise” given that many of the party’s state-level branches have already been classified as extremist, but it is nevertheless a first for the national organization.

The AfD won 20.8 percent of the vote and 152 seats in February’s federal election, coming in second behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU). However, it remains politically isolated because mainstream parties have refused its offers to work in any coalition.

Analysts noted that the new designation will reinforce efforts to bar the AfD from key parliamentary roles.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accused German authorities of seeking to suppress dissent, and the move provoked sharp criticism from American right-wing figures. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the decision as “tyranny in disguise,” NBC News noted.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry pushed back, saying that “right-wing extremism needs to be stopped” to protect Germany’s Constitution and the rule of law and that the decision followed “a thorough and independent investigation.”