Around 10,000 AfD members have extremist potential, according to the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report. The Berlin administrative court has now ruled that there is sufficient evidence of this – and rejected an urgent application by the AfD against the passage.
The AfD failed with an urgent motion against a passage in the 2022 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report. After a decision by the Berlin Administrative Court, the federal government was allowed to write in the report that the AfD had an extremist potential of around 10,000 people or 30 to 40 percent of all AfD members.
The party wanted to have this passage deleted from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution report. However, the administrative court came to the conclusion that the Federal Ministry of the Interior is entitled to inform the public about efforts against the free democratic basic order if there are sufficiently significant indications for this.
No change due to removal of the wing
According to the court, this is also permissible in the suspicion phase. In the case of the AfD, the requirements are met. There are actual indications of sufficient weight that some of the AfD members have the potential for right-wing extremism. The dissolution of the so-called wing around the Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke did not lead to the potential for right-wing extremism to disappear. The estimate of around 10,000 members is not arbitrary.
According to the administrative court, the AfD has already filed a complaint against the decision on the urgent application with the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court.
(AZ: VG 1 L 340/23)