The Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD youth organization Junge Alternative (JA) as right-wing extremist. Two other groups – the Institute for State Policy (IfS) and the association “One Percent eV.” – will from now on be classified as institutions with guaranteed right-wing extremist efforts, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) announced. “The position of the Institute for State Politics, One Percent eV and the youth organization of the AfD are no longer compatible with the Basic Law,” said the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang. “There is no longer any doubt that the three groups of people are pursuing anti-constitutional efforts.”
The Junge Alternative had already been classified as a suspected case by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in January 2019, the IfS in April 2020 and “One Percent eV.” in June 2020. Since then, the organizations have been monitored more closely. The new classification could have an impact, for example, on the employment of members of public service organizations or on the issue of gun licenses. The AfD itself is still considered a suspected right-wing extremist.
The youth organization of the AfD is accused of deliberately degrading the democratic system of the Federal Republic. In addition, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the organization represents a popular understanding that excludes German nationals with a migration background and devalues them as second-class Germans. Migrants of non-European origin would even be excluded as fundamentally impossible to integrate. Xenophobic argumentation patterns would combine with Islamophobic resentment, it is also said to justify the upgrade.
The AfD had tried to use legal means to prevent the observation of the JA and the entire party as a suspected case. However, both lawsuits failed before the administrative court in Cologne. The party later appealed the verdicts. The proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster have not yet been completed.
Constantly inhumane and anti-democratic ideologies
If there is a suspicion, there are “sufficiently weighty factual indications” of anti-constitutional efforts. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can then evaluate and store personal data. Even in suspicious cases, the Federal Office can use intelligence resources under strict conditions, i.e. secretly obtain information – for example through observation or recruiting informants. After a certain period of time, the duration of which is not regulated by law at federal level, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution decides whether the suspicion is confirmed or not.
The classification as a proven extremist effort has concrete consequences: The proportionality of the use of intelligence resources is assessed differently. If a security check is carried out on someone who is attributed to an extremist movement – for example because he or she is applying for a license to own weapons – what the Office for the Protection of the Constitution delivers is different. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution also reports in more detail on the findings available to it. “It is the task and duty of the BfV to educate the public about such efforts in order to protect the free democratic basic order,” said Haldenwang. The propagation of enemy images and the stoking of resentment in the population are generally suitable “to prepare the ground for unpeaceful behavior towards those affected”.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has repeatedly emphasized that she sees right-wing extremism as the greatest threat to democracy in Germany. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution emphasized that it not only observed violent extremists, but also organizations that constantly spread inhumane and anti-democratic ideologies. This prepares the ground for acts of violence.