Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has taken a significant step by classifying the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as “extremist.”
This troubling decision marks a controversial turn in German politics and has garnered commentary both within the nation and internationally.
Fox News reports that the classification grants the intelligence agency, known as the BfV, increased authority to monitor the AfD, including more intensive surveillance and interception of communications.
The BfV announced its decision on Friday, citing concerns over the AfD’s ethnically driven ideology.
The agency argues that AfD’s ideology devalues parts of the German populace, alongside the party’s anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
This classification follows an extensive 1,100-page assessment and a court ruling where the AfD lost a battle to overturn a prior attempt by the BfV to classify it as extremist.
The political context in Germany requires any political party to be officially labeled as “extremist” to legally permit its surveillance, a policy rooted in the country’s historical experience grappling with totalitarianism.
The AfD now joins a list of organizations under this classification, which also includes the neo-Nazi party NDP, the Islamic State group, and the Marxist-Leninist party.
It comes after the AfD made significant electoral gains earlier this