The AfD is resisting its classification as a suspected case

The German domestic secret service has a suspicion, and it is allowed to pursue this suspicion further. This is how a judgment by the administrative court in Cologne can be summarized, which could have far-reaching consequences for the political fate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The judges decided on Tuesday evening that it was permissible for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to monitor the AfD as a so-called suspected case. There are enough “actual indications” for anti-constitutional efforts. The AfD has thus failed with its most important lawsuit. The party was able to assert itself in two other cases negotiated at the same time.

ostracism for Tino Chrupalla

It could already be seen this Wednesday whether the right-wing party, some of whom are stagnating in the polls and others who are losing, are about to face another crucial test. The parliamentary group comes together for a two-day working retreat. A ostracism had been expected for party and parliamentary group leader Tino Chrupalla, whose speech in the Bundestag on the war in Ukraine had been seen by numerous parliamentarians as too confused and too pro-Russian.

Now the Cologne verdicts have closed the ranks of officials and elected officials for the time being. Chrupalla said the central verdict surprised him and that further appeals are being considered. An appeal to the Münster Higher Administrative Court is considered almost certain.

Statements from the federal states show that the AfD will continue to try to criticize the protection of the constitution as biased. Joana Cotar, Hessian member of the Bundestag and defeated Chrupalla in the fight for the top candidate for the federal elections, is in contrast to her chairman “not personally surprised”. It was a show trial, the “political instrumentalization of our domestic secret service” must be stopped. At the same time, it is important to prevent any radical efforts on the fringes of one’s own party.

Condensed clues

The newly elected North Rhine-Westphalian state chairman Martin Vincentz said that the AfD had “nothing to hide”, an observation would not come to any other conclusion. The Berlin state chairwoman Kristin Brinker speaks of a “devastating” judgment for democracy.

Thomas Haldenwang, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, praises the judgments in favor of his agency. The AfD has “strong right-wing extremist tendencies”. The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, declared that now “the true face of the AfD, which often bears the traits of a right-wing extremist grimace”, will finally become visible.

The Cologne court followed the protection of the constitution in that there was “foreigner-hostile agitation” in the AfD as well as an “ethnically understood concept of the people”. In addition, the party is in a directional dispute in which anti-constitutional efforts could prevail. The observation is legitimate.

As a suspected case, the AfD remains in a middle position from a secret service point of view. Not only “initial”, but already “condensed indications” for the suspicion of extremist efforts are therefore available, which is why the status of the mere “test case” was abandoned. The third and highest level, which has been established with certainty as hostility to the constitution, was not reached.

The party is allowed to continue its political work just as the secret service can continue its investigations, both with openly available material and with intelligence tools. Nothing even stands in the way of the use of undercover investigators and recruiting members for paid secret betrayal.

The leader of the AfD parliamentary group in Magdeburg’s state parliament, Oliver Kirchner, points out that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution does not regard his party as a “secure extremist effort”. Also, an actual use of intelligence resources is only allowed if the so-called hanging decision of March 2021, which prevents this stricter procedure, is lifted.

How are the officials reacting?

For the court, the extremist character of the youth organization, the Junge Alternative, is undisputed. The AfD was also defeated in this procedure, which prompted its federal chairman, Carlo Clemens, to reply that the arguments of the constitutional authorities were “largely outrageous” and directed against an “unwelcome opposition party”. The parliamentary group leader in the Brandenburg state parliament, Christoph Berndt, advises against accepting the decisions, even if the AfD “possibly will only be successful at European level”.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution lost out twice: The radical “wing” can only be classified as a suspected case, but not as a proven extremist. The existence and influence of this group are disputed after their official dissolution. It is also inadmissible to continue to claim that the “wing” has 7,000 members.

Memberships in parties are a private matter. The Federal Ministry of the Interior determined in 2019 that membership in organizations that are being treated by the authorities for the protection of the constitution as a test case or suspected case is irrelevant in terms of civil service law. It depends on the specific behavior.

Nevertheless, officials should now think twice whether they remain loyal to the AfD or join it. These are not good prospects for a party whose membership is falling and which has not scored well with its corona or Russia policy. Up to now, every inner-party truce has been short-lived. This is unlikely to change much if it can now be assumed that every party friend is an agent of the secret service.