Germany’s domestic intelligence service has designated the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a “right-wing extremist” group, with the incoming government considering a ban, and the United States expressing its displeasure.
The designation, made public by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution on Friday following an audit by the BfV security service, makes the party subject to surveillance.
It could also revive discussion over a potential ban for the AfD, which has surged in popularity in recent years and placed second in February’s general election.
Later Friday, the incoming German government said they are to review whether to launch an effort to ban the AfD party after it was classified as extremist.
Social Democrat leader Lars Klingbeil told the Bild newspaper, “The AfD is an attack on Germany,” Klingbeil, who is set to become finance minister in the next government, added, “They want a different country, they want to destroy our democracy. And we must take that very seriously.”
The BfV, which had already designated several local AfD chapters as extremist, said it decided to give the entire party the label due to its attempts to “undermine the free, democratic” order in Germany.
“This is evident in the numerous xenophobic, anti-minority, anti-Islamic, and anti-Muslim statements continually made by leading party officials,” it added.
US condemns ban as ‘tyranny in disguise’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sharply criticised Germany’s decision to designate the AfD as an extremist group, urging authorities to reverse the move.
“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise,” Rubio wrote on X, condemning the classification by the country.
“What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD – which took second in the recent election – but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes,” added Rubio.
Questions surround Rubio’s controversial remarks noted Al Jazeera’s senior correspondent Mike Hanna, reporting from the White House. “Was Rubio speaking as Secretary of State, as the National Security Advisor or giving his opinions in a personal capacity,” said Hanna.
“What we do not know is whether the president endorses Rubio’s statements,” added Hanna.
The remarks follow a pattern within US President Donald Trump’s administration, who align themselves with far-right and populist leaders and parties.
“Members of the Trump administration that have come out in support of the AfD. Vice President’s JD Vance shocked many back in February when he made a speech in Europe lashing out at what he called the ‘lack of freedom of expression’ in Germany in particular,” said Hanna noting that he also later met with the AfD the leader “to the shock of many of the US’ traditional allies.”
Tech billionaire and advisor to Trump, Elon Musk, had weighed in heavily in support of the AfD before the election.
Musk urged German voters to get behind the far-right party in February’s national election during a broadcast with the party’s leader, live-streaming his conversation with Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for chancellor, via his social media platform X.
Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise.
What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 2, 2025
“This gives official status to a suspicion that it has had publicly about the AfD for several years,” said Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin.
The AfD, which holds nearly 25 percent of seats in the German parliament, reacted angrily to the decision. Still, the announcement has sparked calls for stronger measures, including the possibility of a full ban.
Klingbeil, seen as a likely future deputy chancellor, said he wants to explore banning the AfD altogether. However, Kane noted the legal path to such a ban is long and complex.
“There are many different constitutional hurdles … The party would have to be found not just extremist but unconstitutional”, he explained.
That determination can only be made by the federal Constitutional Court, which would require a two-thirds majority of justices to approve such a ruling.
‘Politically motivated’
The AfD, which has capitalised on growing anti-immigration sentiment amid the country’s economic slowdown and currently tops several opinion polls, condemned the designation as “clearly politically motivated”.
The designation comes just days before Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is due to be sworn in as Germany’s new chancellor.
There is a heated debate within the party, which has thrashed out a coalition deal with the left-leaning Social Democrats, over how to deal with the AfD in the new parliament.
Germany’s outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz, from the Social Democrats said on Friday that he is against rushing to outlaw the AfD, adding it should be evaluated “carefully”.
The radical right-wing party has been under scrutiny by the BfV for its links to extremists and its ties to Russia for some time.
Of the 38,800 far-right extremists counted by the agency last year, more than 10,000 are members.
Certain factions of the AfD, including three regional parties in the east of the country as well as its youth wing, were already classified as extremist.
The party at large was classified as a suspected extremist case in 2021. The security services have now formalised the designation for the national party as a whole.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the classification was “clear and unambiguous” and had resulted from a 1,100-page “comprehensive and neutral audit” that had no political influence.
AfD’s co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla charged in a statement that the party is “being publicly discredited and criminalised”.
“It is sad to see the state of democracy in our country when the old parties are now even using the most politically questionable means against the strongest opposition party,” said Anton Baron, an AfD legislator in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg.
