German court ruling deals fresh blow to far-right AfD

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has suffered a stinging defeat as a court threw out its bid to stop Germany's intelligence services from investigating it as a suspected right-wing extremist organisation.

Higher Administrative Court in Muenster, western Germany, on Monday, rejected the AfD's challenge to the classification, in a fresh blow to the party ahead of key EU and regional elections.

The dispute has been going on since 2021 when the domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, labelled the AfD a "suspected right-wing extremist group", giving authorities more power to gather intelligence.

The party "has no right to demand that the BfV refrain from monitoring it", said the court.

Existing laws "provide a sufficient legal basis for observation as a suspected case," it said.

While they enjoyed a poll surge last year, the AfD has recently faced a welter of controversies, from claims that it allegedly supported plans for mass deportations to the arrest of one of its MEP's aides over allegations of spying for China.

The Muenster court has been hearing arguments in the case since March.

The AfD's lawyers claimed statements made by its members, which have been collected by the BfV as evidence to support their arguments, were "the aberrations of individuals" and should not be attributed to the party as a whole, which has some 45,000 members.

But the lawyer representing the BfV said the statements, highlighting what it says is extremism, were "not just the individual opinions of a few people".

'Protecting democracy'

They were taken from a large number of statements by high-ranking officials and elected representatives with considerable political influence, and have a "very clear" impact on political life in Germany, the lawyer said.

In 2022 a lower court in Cologne had already dismissed an appeal against the BfV's move to label the AfD a suspected right-wing extremist group, leading the party to turn to the Muenster court.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser welcomed the ruling as showing that the "state has instruments that protect our democracy from threats from within".

The ruling comes just weeks before European Parliament elections, at which the AfD like other far-right parties in Europe is hoping to make gains.

Some German media reported on Monday the court ruling could clear the way for the intelligence services to take a further step against the AfD by labelling it a "confirmed right-wing extremist group" which would give authorities further powers to monitor them.

Several local branches of the party have already been given this classification.