COLOGNE: Germany's domestic intelligence service will temporarily suspend its classification of the far-right AfD party as a "right-wing extremist" group pending a legal appeal, a court said on Thursday. The BfV agency last week announced it was giving the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany the label after a lengthy investigation, accusing it of seeking to undermine the country's democracy. But the AfD — which came second in February elections, behind only new Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives — said the move was politically motivated and lodged a legal challenge.
The Cologne court said the BfV spy agency will no longer refer to the AfD as a "confirmed right-wing extremist" organisation in public and remove a press release about the designation from its website. The BfV was taking such steps without admitting any legal liability, a court statement added, pointing out that the agency was waiting for the outcome of the AfD's challenge. AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement that the party had scored "a partial success." "This is an important first step to us being fully in the clear and countering accusations of right-wing extremism," they added.
Justifying its decision to label the party "extremist", the BfV had accused leading AfD members of making "xenophobic". The move made it easier for spies to monitor the party and renewed calls for it to be banned, although parliament would need to vote on the matter and new Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reacted coolly to such suggestions.
According to a report in news outlet Der Spiegel, the BfV report on the AfD found incriminating material on 353 members, including at the highest levels, and said that the party distinguishes between so-called "real", ethnic Germans and those who merely have a German passport.
The government of former chancellor Olaf Scholz, which handed over power this week to Merz's coalition, has denied there was any political influence over the agency. The row sparked a transatlantic spat with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaping to the AfD's defence. The Cologne court has jurisdiction over the matter since the BfV is based there. In 2022, it backed the BfV's classification of the AfD as "suspected right-wing extremist". — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
