The German constitutional protection explained the AfD nationwide to the test case

AfD should continue to be controlled by far-right trends, but the party's and national right-wing youth organizations are now officially suspect cases, which allows for the use of intelligence methods.

Jonas Hermann, Berlin 15.1.2019, 16:08 clock

Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, informed Tuesday about the classification of the AFD as a test case. (Image: Alexander Becher / EPA)

The German national secret service classifies AfD nationwide as a test case. The first indications of anti-constitutional tendencies derive mainly from public statements by party members, said its president Thomas Haldenwang on Tuesday at a press conference. Now they want to systematically expand the existing collection of materials on AfD. This test could be the preliminary phase of a possible observation of the entire party. The constitutional protection wants to clarify now, how strongly the extremist right opinions are widespread in AfD. Since this is only a test case, it should not be used for any secret service.

Furthermore, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has suspected the right wing of the party around the head of the state of AFG of Thuringia Björn Höcke. The junior organization of the Junge Alternative Party (JA) ranks the national intelligence service as a suspect case. In both cases, constitutional protectors can use intelligence methods. There is evidence of extremism among the boys, Haldenwang said. Many statements by JA members are incompatible with human dignity, for example when they speak of "knife migrants" or request an evening curfew for all male refugees.

According to Haldenwang, there are also strong signs of extremism in the national right wing. The crime emanating from migrants would be "severely exceeded" there. The relativization of National Socialism "runs like a red thread" through the statements of the wing politicians. Their idea of ​​politics is based on exclusion and contempt for migrants, Muslims and politically dissident thinkers.

The largest opposition faction in the Bundestag

In September, the constitutional protection of Thuringia had already declared the local national association of the AFD to the test case. In Bremen and Lower Saxony, local associations of the AfD Junge Alternative youth organization are under observation. AfD is now at a crossroads, said the president of the Constitution, who mentioned several times in the Björn Höcke press conference. Höcke seems to be a kind of involuntary prototype of anti-constitutional tendencies within the party for the domestic secret service.

The co-chair of the AfD group, Alice Weidel, wrote in a statement released by Facebook: "Protection of the Constitution is abused by this step to combat an unfortunate political opponent." His former boss Hans-Georg Maassen had been put out, "To finally have a free hand." The interior expert SPD Burkhard Lischka said, however, the German publishing network welcomed the decision. The move is "inevitable" because large parts of the AFD are in a process of radicalization. "The connections of the AFD in the far-right environment make an observation absolutely necessary," said Konstantin Kuhle, national spokesman for the parliamentary group of the FDP. However, the main debate with AfD must continue to take place in Parliament. AfD was founded in spring 2013. It is the largest opposition faction in the Bundestag and has been represented in all German state parliaments since last year.