Brandenburg's Office for the Protection of the Constitution deems AfD as undoubtedly right-wing extremist. - Right-wing extremist party AfD granted constitutional protection status in Brandenburg, according to classification.
Let's dive into the recent noise stirred up by the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) in classifying the AfD as undeniably far-right. This decision, announced on April 14, 2025, comes after a series of investigations that began in 2020.
In a move that's causing ripples across Germany, the AfD party in Brandenburg now shares this label with their counterparts in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. Not one to back down, the AfD has filed lawsuits against this classification, challenging it both in courts and in the court of public opinion.
State chairman René Springer of the AfD Brandenburg is speaking up, labeling the move as "political arbitrariness." The AfD has demanded transparency, urging for the revelation of the alleged evidence leading to their classification.
As the second-largest faction in the Brandenburg state parliament and the largest opposition party, the AfD garnered 29.2% of the vote in the September 2021 state election, falling just short of the victorious SPD. The current coalition government in Brandenburg is made up of the SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, governed by Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD).
The drama doesn't end there. State Interior Minister Katrin Lange recently decided to relieve the head of the Verfassungsschutz, Müller, of his duties due to a strained relationship of trust. Few details have been provided, but the timing of this decision seems noteworthy.
In a twist of events, Lange was informed about the upgraded classification of the AfD from a suspicion to a verifiably far-right extremist organization only on May 5, 2025 — more than a month after the decision was made. Lange attributes the delayed communication as the main reason for the personnel change.
Historically, classifyingAfD branches across Germany as right-wing extremist has often been linked to their anti-migrant and anti-Muslim stances, in addition to their efforts to undermine the democratic order by promoting ethnic and ancestral concepts of the people that devalue certain segments of the population [2]. These actions have been known to generate irrational fears and hostility towards individuals and groups, echoing broader trends observed elsewhere in Germany[2][3].
The Verfassungsschutz, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, promises to monitor democratic and constitutional adversaries, among other tasks. By identifying and collecting evidence of potential extremist activities, it can classify these activities as verifiably extremist and make the information public[4].
With the interior ministry taking over the competence of classifying "objects of observation" from the Verfassungsschutz, it seems the political implications and tensions arising from these classifications will continue to be debated fiercely[3]. The CDU state parliamentary group and the BSW parliamentary group leader have sharply criticized Lange, accusing her of undermining the "political independence" of the Verfassungsschutz and exposing it to "the suspicion of political interference."
As Germany grapples with these developments, the nation's democracy is being tested on several fronts, with the AfD's controversies serving as a crucial microcosm of the challenges ahead.
- The Brandenburg Verfassungsschutz's decision to classify the AfD as far-right, undeniably right-wing extremist, has been met with legal challenges and public debate, stirring up political controversies that test Germany's democracy.
- The CDU state parliamentary group and the BSW parliamentary group leader have criticized Brandenburg's State Interior Minister Katrin Lange for attempting to undermine the political independence of the Verfassungsschutz by taking over the competence of classifying "objects of observation."
- The AfD's classifications as far-right extremist, in Brandenburg and other German states, have been linked to their anti-migrant and anti-Muslim stances, as well as their efforts to undermine the democratic order by promoting ethnic and ancestral concepts that devalue certain segments of the population.
- As common foreign and security policy debates and policy-and-legislation continue in Germany and across Europe, the ongoing controversy surrounding the AfD serves as a microcosm, highlighting the importance of maintaining strong democratic principles and addressing unconstitutional activities within political parties to preserve the security and well-being of the community.
