AfD's far‑right label sparks legal battles and political rift
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution has also recognised the AfD as an organisation with far-right views. This information was provided by Brandenburg's Minister of the Interior, Katrin Lange of the SPD.
With the decision of the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the AfD has now been identified as an organisation with far-right views in four German federal states and at the federal level. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution announced this decision regarding the party last Friday (5th February 2025) after a multi-year investigation, sparking a new debate on the procedure for banning the AfD's activities.
Additionally, the AfD has already been classified by state constitutional protection offices in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia as an organisation with confirmed far-right tendencies. The party rejects these accusations and has previously and unsuccessfully appealed against this decision in court. Following its classification by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it has also filed a lawsuit.
"Breaking trust-based relations"
The AfD in Brandenburg criticised the decision as "political arbitrariness" and denied accusations of unconstitutional tendencies. "The AfD in Brandenburg demands full transparency and disclosure of all alleged evidence that led to such a classification," stated its leader, René Springer. "The AfD will not be intimidated," he added.
The AfD is the second strongest faction in the Brandenburg Landtag and the largest opposition party. In the Landtag elections last September, it received 29.2% of the vote, placing just behind the winning SPD, which gained 30.9% of the vote. In Brandenburg, a coalition of SPD and BSW governs under the leadership of Prime Minister Dietmar Woikde of the SPD. Besides the AfD, only the CDU is represented in the Brandenburg state parliament. Other parties did not secure enough votes to enter.
On Tuesday (6th May 2025), the Ministry of the Interior in Potsdam announced that the head of the state constitutional protection office, Jörg Mueller, was relieved of his duties by Interior Minister Katrin Lange. The only explanation given was "breaking trust-based relations," without further detail.
The "understanding of the nation" issue
According to today’s (7th May 2025) statement from the spokesperson for Brandenburg's Ministry of the Interior, the reason for this decision was a delay in informing Minister Lange about the change in AfD's status, from suspected extremism to a confirmed far-right group. The spokesperson emphasised that the decisive factor was "the manner of communication," not "the substantive decision." The classification of the AfD remains unchanged.
Today, the Brandenburg state government provided no further information on the reasons behind the classification of Brandenburg's AfD. In previous similar cases, constitutional protection offices cited the "understanding of the nation" based on ethnic origin as a key element. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution explained its decision regarding the AfD by stating that such a stance assigns specific social groups, especially migrants, only a "legally discrediting status," which contradicts the German constitution.
"Early warning centre"
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution operates as a civil counterintelligence agency in Germany, responsible for monitoring groups hostile to democracy and the constitution. If appropriate indications are received, it can initially classify them as suspect and gather evidence. If it finds it sufficient, it can classify their tendencies as confirmed extremist and make this public.
Constitutional protection offices do not have executive powers; they function as an "early warning centre" for politicians and the public. Political parties can only be banned under very stringent conditions by the Federal Constitutional Court, upon request from the Bundestag, the federal government, or the Bundesrat. Criminal investigations fall under the jurisdiction of the police and the judiciary.
The Brandenburg CDU sharply criticised Interior Minister Katrin Lange. The statement that she was not informed by the head of the local Office for the Protection of the Constitution about the classification of the AfD was considered "incredible," said Rainer Genilke, the spokesperson for the CDU parliamentary club in the Brandenburg Landtag. He simultaneously accused Minister Lange of limiting the "political independence" of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and subjecting it to "the accusation of exerting political influence." In his opinion, this benefits extremists.
