A German court ruled on Thursday that the domestic intelligence agency cannot label the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a "confirmed right-wing extremist" group, at least for now. The Cologne administrative court's decision puts the designation on hold pending the final outcome of a legal battle between the AfD and Germany's intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
The court found that there are indeed efforts to undermine Germany's free democratic order from within the AfD, highlighting its demands to ban Muslim minarets, public calls to prayer and headscarves in public institutions. However, it ruled that the party as a whole is not "shaped by these efforts" such that "an anti-constitutional tendency can be established" to characterise the party in its entirety as extremist.
The AfD had challenged the designation, which would empower the intelligence agency to use broader surveillance powers to monitor the party and would embolden political opponents who are seeking a ban on the anti-immigration party. Some of the AfD's political foes have advocated banning the party, a process for which there are high legal hurdles in Germany, including evidence that a party is actively trying to abolish the democratic order and has the means to do so.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel hailed the ruling as "a major victory not only for the AfD but also for democracy and the rule of law" in a post on X. She added that the decision had also "thrown a spanner in the works" for the "fanatics" seeking to outlaw the AfD.
The AfD was founded in 2013 primarily as a eurosceptic party but has since become more hardline nationalist, putting an anti-immigrant stance at the heart of its appeals to voters. The party surged to become the largest opposition force in last year's nationwide election, winning nearly 21 percent of the vote. It is particularly strong in the formerly communist East Germany, holding commanding leads in the polls ahead of several key state-level elections there later this year.
Despite its electoral success, the AfD has remained frozen out of power across the country, as all other political parties have maintained a "firewall" against it and refused to consider cooperating. Many in mainstream German politics see the AfD's far-right positions and rhetoric as taboo, a view informed in part by Germany's dark Nazi history.
The intelligence agency moved to officially classify the national AfD party as a "confirmed extremist" organisation on May 2 of last year, a step up from the previous designation as a "suspected" case. The party filed a lawsuit against the move and the BfV agreed to suspend the classification until a court ruling on the matter is issued. Several regional AfD party organisations have already been designated as "confirmed extremist" groups. Thursday's decision by the Cologne court, which can still be appealed, keeps the designation on hold until a verdict is reached in the AfD's broader challenge to the classification.
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