German court upholds 'suspected extremist' label for far-right AfD

Germany's intelligence services may classify the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a suspected extremist group, a higher regional court ruled on appeal on Monday.

Germany's intelligence services had classified both the party and its youth organization, Junge Alternative (JA), as suspected right-wing extremist groups.

According to the court, there is a well-founded suspicion that "the political objectives of at least a significant part of the AfD are in line with granting German citizens with a migration background a legally devalued status," it said in its statement.

According to the Basic Law, which acts as the country's constitution, this is "inadmissible discrimination."

A lower administrative court in Cologne, where the intelligence services are located, confirmed this assessment in 2022, allowing the office to monitor the party as a suspected case.

However the party appealed the decision, which the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine Westphalia located in Münster has now upheld.

The AfD's signature issue is a hard-line anti-immigration stance, and the party is profiting from increased concern among many German voters over rising numbers seeking asylum in the country.

The party is polling nationally at around 20%, amid high dissatisfaction with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition.

The ruling comes just weeks before the European Parliament elections and several months before three state elections in eastern Germany, in which the AfD is predicted to do well.

At the beginning of the year, thousands of people across Germany joined demonstrations against extremism in general and the AfD in particular.

The protests were triggered by a report by investigative media outlet Correctiv about a secret meeting attended by members of the AfD and well-known radical right-wingers at which plans of mass deportation were discussed.

Furthermore, Maximilian Krah, a member of the AfD serving in the European Parliament, is under scrutiny by German prosecutors looking into potential payments from Russia and China. The probe has thrown the AfD's Russia-friendly positions back into the national spotlight.

The judgement in Münster is not yet legally binding. The AfD can submit an another appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.

"We will of course appeal to the next instance," said AfD federal board member Roman Reusch in a party statement.

AfD Vice Chairman Peter Boehringer criticized the "insufficient clarification of the facts" with regard to the proceedings.

"Not following up on hundreds of requests for evidence borders on a refusal to work, as in the previous instance, which was the main reason for the appeal."

In explaining the court's decision, presiding judge Gerald Buck said the powers of the domestic intelligence services are "by no means limitless," but a resilient democracy must not be a "toothless tiger."

Above all, when monitoring a particularly protected political party, the intelligence services must be able to present "sufficiently substantiated circumstances" that indicate that a group may be pursuing endeavours against Germany's democratic principles.

Germany's Interior Nancy Faeser emphasized the autonomy of the domestic intelligence services.

"Today's judgement shows that we are a resilient democracy," German Interior Nancy Faeser said following the ruling.

The German state has instruments to protect democracy against threats from within, she said. "It is precisely these instruments that are being used - and have now been confirmed once again by an independent court," added the minister, whose area of responsibility includes the domestic intelligence services.