German intelligence agency the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has temporarily suspended its May 2 decision to classify the populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) as “definitley right-wing extremist”.
On May 8, the BfV sent a so-called “standstill commitment” to the Administrative Court of Cologne. AfD had filed a suit with the court on May 5. In the 195-page statement of claims, the right-wingers had asked the justices to forbid the intelligence agency from categorising AfD as “extremist” or monitor the party covertly.
It was unclear whether the BfV had acted of its own accord or had been forced to commit to the standstill by the court. The agency did not respond to Brussels Signal requests for comment at the time of writing.
Lawyer Christian Conrad, who represented the AfD in the Cologne suit, published parts of the BfV’s commitment document on X on May 8.
In its letter to the court the BfV declared: “Notwithstanding the … reassessment of the AfD, the BfV declares … that in order to enable the court to conduct a proper summary examination … it will temporarily suspend the classification of the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation until the deciding chamber has reached its decision.”
The BfV further agreed to “continue to monitor and treat the AfD only as a suspected case for the time being”.
Moreover, the agency said it would not “publicly label the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation until the decision of the court has been issued”.
The BfV also removed the press release on the AfD’s reclassification as extremist from May 2 from its website.
AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla called the decision “a partial success” and “a first important step to our final exoneration”.
Joachim Steinhöfel, a prominent media lawyer and right-wing pundit, called the letter “a de-facto capitulation of the domestic intelligence service”.
“It is not yet possible to estimate how many heads will now have to roll in the authority,” he said.
“If the new interior minister [Alexander Dobrindt] is responsible for this step, he has done democracy a great service.”
Steinhöfel also thanked the US administration for what he said was its exerting of “massive pressure” on German officials.
The BfV’s original classification of the AfD – which would have allowed it to spy on the party and its members – had been heavily criticised by members of the US President Donald Trump’s administration and other fellow Republicans.
Most recently, Tom Cotton, the Chair of the US Senate Committee on Intelligence, had called for pausing “all intelligence sharing” with German security services.
