The Office for the Protection of the Constitution maintained proportionality in its measures, the court explained in its judgment. The AfD immediately announced that it would take the legal dispute to the next higher court.
The powers of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are “by no means limitless,” but a well-defensed democracy should not be a “toothless tiger,” emphasized Gerald Buck, presiding judge of the 5th Senate, in the justification for the decision. The Senate is convinced that there is a well-founded suspicion “that it corresponds to the political objectives of at least a significant part of the AfD to only grant German citizens with a migration background a legally devalued status,” it said in the justification. According to the Basic Law, this is “inadmissible discrimination”.
AfD announces appeal
The procedure is compatible with the Basic Law, European law and international law. The classification confirmed by the court allows the party to be monitored by the German domestic secret service.
“We will of course call the next authority,” said AfD federal executive board member Roman Reusch on Monday, according to a statement from the party. The court in Münster did not allow an appeal in its judgment. However, the AfD can lodge a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. AfD vice-president Peter Boehringer criticized the proceedings for “insufficient clarification of the facts”. “Not following up on hundreds of applications for evidence borders on refusing to work, as was the case in the previous instance, which was the main reason for the appeal.”
After the verdict, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) emphasized the independence of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. “Today’s verdict shows that we are a robust democracy,” said Faeser on Monday. The German constitutional state has instruments to protect democracy from threats from within. “It is precisely these instruments that are being used – and have now been confirmed again by an independent court,” added the minister, whose area of responsibility includes the Federal Office.
Faeser said that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has a clear legal mandate to take action against extremism. He works independently. The assessment of the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case was carefully justified by the security authority and has now been found to be legal in the second instance. “In the constitutional state, independent courts decide,” said Faeser. She emphasized: “We will continue to clearly separate the legal assessment from the political debate that we lead in parliaments and public debates.”
CDU in Saxony wants AfD ban proceedings as quickly as possible
The Saxon CDU member of the Bundestag Marco Wanderwitz announced that he would initiate an application for an AfD ban in the Bundestag as quickly as possible. “My wish is that we submit the ban proposal before the parliamentary summer break,” he told “ZEIT ONLINE”. Some German politicians such as former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse (SPD) or SPD leader Saskia Esken have spoken out in favor of considering a ban proposal, but Esken at least would prefer to wait until the AfD is upgraded to securely right-wing extremist. According to a report in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, a corresponding report from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is about to be completed.
The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) had objected to a ruling by the Cologne Administrative Court, which was responsible for the case in the lower court because of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Cologne. In March 2022, the Cologne court dismissed a lawsuit by the AfD against the classification as a suspected case that had taken place around a year earlier. The party appealed. At the beginning of the hearing at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster in mid-March, the AfD filed numerous applications for bias against the judges. A lawyer for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution accused the AfD of wanting to drag out the process.
“Secured right-wing extremist”
The verdict comes in the middle of the campaign for the European elections at the beginning of June and in the preparations for the state elections in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony. According to surveys, the AfD is particularly strong in the eastern German states. The state associations of Thuringia and Saxony – like the one in Saxony-Anhalt – are classified as “certainly right-wing extremist” by the constitutional protection authorities in these federal states.
Meanwhile, on Monday night, unknown people threw stones and an incendiary device against a single-family home in Halle where a member of the city council’s AfD faction lives. The perpetrators threw stones at windows and damaged several panes, Halle police announced on Monday. They also threw an incendiary device at the front door, which was said to have extinguished itself. A doormat was damaged. The state security agency, which is responsible for politically motivated crimes, is investigating.
