The German far-right party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) after domestic intelligence officially classified it as an "extremist organization" at the end of last week. This was announced on Monday by a spokesman for the Administrative Court in Cologne.
In addition to the main lawsuit, the AfD has also filed an urgent appeal, which will be considered after the BfV confirms that it has been officially notified. The classification gives the intelligence services the right to intensify surveillance of the party - including through the use of informants and the interception of its communications.
The decision is based on an 1,100-page expert report, which has not been published, but according to sources contains conclusions that the AfD is a racist and anti-Muslim formation. The party, which is the largest opposition force in the Bundestag, rejects the definition as a "politically motivated attack" aimed at discrediting and criminalizing it.
Possible consequences of the definition include limiting state funding for the AfD, as well as considering a possible ban on the party - an idea that Social Democrat leader Lars Klingbeil has already commented publicly.
The AfD complaint comes a day before conservative bloc leader Friedrich Merz is elected chancellor by the Bundestag, amid increasingly heated debates within his party about how to deal with the rising far-right opposition.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no intention of interfering in Germany's "internal matter". However, he stressed that the political landscape in Europe is characterized by "increasing restrictions against those political forces and individuals whose ideology does not coincide with the dominant mainstream".