Germany’s far-right AfD party announced Monday it is suing the country’s domestic intelligence agency over its designation as a “right-wing extremist” group, a label that has triggered diplomatic tensions between Berlin and Washington.
A spokesperson for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) said the party had filed a challenge against the BfV agency's designation with the administrative court in Cologne, western Germany.
The BfV said Friday it considered the AfD a "confirmed" right-wing extremist group, citing the "xenophobic, anti-minority, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim statements made by leading party officials."
The classification will help authorities seek greater powers to monitor the party with phone taps and undercover agents, fueling fresh calls for an outright ban.
Members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration were quick to defend the AfD in the wake of the BfV's decision.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance described the AfD, which, like Trump, has campaigned against immigration, as "the most popular party in Germany."
The AfD came second in Germany's federal elections in February with just under 21%, behind the conservative CDU-CSU which won nearly 29%.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the intelligence agency's move "tyranny in disguise" and said "Germany should reverse course."
Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise.
What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies...
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 2, 2025
The German Foreign Ministry took the unusual step of replying directly to Rubio on X to say: "This is democracy."
It stressed the BfV's move was "the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our constitution."
