BERLIN – Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has placed the far-right Alternative for Germany under observation as a potential threat to the country’s democracy, officials said on Wednesday, setting the stage for a battle between the state and a party that is the main opposition in Parliament.
It is the first time in post-war history in Germany that a party represented in the Federal Parliament has raised such intense scrutiny, and this highlights an uncomfortable issue facing the country’s institutions: what to do with a party that is considered a danger to democracy – but is it popular in parts of the country and has it consolidated itself at all levels of politics?
This issue has particular resonance in an election year in which Angela Merkel will step down after 16 years as chancellor, a term in which she has become a symbol of a Germany that has learned from its history and welcomes refugees.
The leaders of Alternative for Germany, AfD, as the party is known, routinely accuse Muslim immigrants of being criminals, attack the press and question the universalist principles of liberal democracy.
During the coronavirus pandemic, AfD officials took part in protests that at times turned violent, in one case infiltrating protesters in the Parliament building. However, even when it became more radical, the party established a presence in Parliament and state legislatures across the country.
Increasingly concerned with the party’s positions, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as the domestic intelligence agency is known here, spent two years examining the speeches and messages on the social networks of AfD officials.
A year ago, the intelligence agency classified the most radical wing of the party and its youth organization as an extremist and said it would put some of its most influential leaders under surveillance.
Since then, this radical wing has been suspected of extending its influence in the party, officials say, which has prompted the agency to investigate the entire party for extremism. The latter decision does not go so far as to classify AfD as an extremist, but it does pave the way for the agency to place it under surveillance to determine if it is.
AfD members responded with indignation on Wednesday, promising to take legal action and insinuating that the change was politically motivated.
“The intelligence agency is acting purely politically when it comes to AfD,” wrote Alice Weidel, a leading party leader, on Twitter. “Given this year’s state and federal elections, this is particularly noteworthy.”
Another AfD lawmaker, Jürgen Braun, spoke on a similar topic. “You know you’re living in Germany”, he wrote on twitter, “When a week and a half before two major regional elections and a few months before the national election, the domestic secret service declares that the largest opposition party is suspicious,” he said.
The decision was reached last Thursday, but has not been publicly announced, pending an ongoing lawsuit that AfD brought to halt measures against it.
Last month, an administrative court in Cologne ruled that the intelligence office, known here as the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or its German initials BfV, was allowed to begin investigating AfD for extremism.
The agency declined to comment on the case on Wednesday. But German authorities, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of an ongoing lawsuit, confirmed the decision.
“Due to ongoing legal proceedings and out of respect for the court, the BfV makes no public statement on the matter,” the intelligence agency said in an e-mailed statement.
The founding mission of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution after World War II was to protect against the rise of political forces – mainly another Nazi party – that could once again threaten Germany’s democracy.
“We take this mission very seriously,” said Thomas Haldenwang, the agency’s president, at a news conference last year, after labeling part of the AfD as an extremist.
“We know from the history of Germany that extreme right-wing extremism has not just destroyed human lives, it has destroyed democracy,” he said. “Far-right extremism and far-right terrorism are currently the greatest danger to democracy in Germany.”