Key points
- German government defends decision
- Country’s foreign ministry responds directly to Marco Rubio
- Berlin Wall being rebuilt: JD Vance
ISLAMABAD: Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been designated as right-wing extremist by the country’s federal office for the protection of the constitution.
“The ethnicity-and ancestry-based understanding of the people prevailing within the party is incompatible with the free democratic order,” the domestic intelligence agency said in a statement.
The German foreign ministry defended the decision after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move “tyranny in disguise” and Vice-President JD Vance said the Berlin Wall was being rebuilt, according to BBC.
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
Germany’s domestic intelligence service on Friday designated the far-right AfD party as an extremist group, setting off a diplomatic spat with the United States.
The BfV intelligence agency, which had already designated several local branches of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) as right-wing extremists, said it moved against the entire party due to its attempts to “undermine the free, democratic” order in Germany.
Greater powers
The classification gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party by lowering the barriers for such steps as intercepting telephone calls and deploying undercover agents.
The conservative US administration quickly condemned the move.
US Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused Germany of rebuilding a “Berlin Wall”.
The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.
The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment. https://t.co/Un6suHtSNJ
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 2, 2025
“The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment,” Vance, who in February defiantly met the AfD leader in Munich, wrote on X. He said the AfD was “the most popular party in Germany”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “tyranny in disguise” and said “Germany should reverse course”.
President Donald Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk has also previously defended the AfD.
“This is democracy”
The German foreign ministry took the unusual step of replying directly to Rubio on X to say: “This is democracy.”
This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) May 2, 2025
The ministry said that the “decision is the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our constitution” and could be appealed.
“We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped,” the ministry said.
The AfD slammed the move as a “heavy blow” to democracy, just months after they came second in a national election. It vowed to mount a legal challenge.
The designation revived calls to ban the party in Germany ahead of conservative Friedrich Merz becoming chancellor next Tuesday, leading a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
The SPD’s Lars Klingbeil, set to become vice-chancellor and finance minister in the coalition, said the government would consider banning the AfD.
“They want a different country, they want to destroy our democracy. And we must take that very seriously,” he told Bild newspaper. He added however that no hasty decision would be made.
