Berlin – The National Intelligence Agency of Germany said Thursday that it will expect a judicial ruling before advancing with the plans to classify the anti -immigration alternative for the German party as a ” right -wing extremist Movement, a step that could subject the part to a wider surveillance and scrutiny of its activities.
The announced pause is produced after the party, known as AFD, filed a lawsuit In the western city of Colonia against the Movement of the Intelligence Service and the party supporters raised a politically motivated repression.
German officials have denied that accusation and have criticized what they called the “continuous agitation” of the party against refugees and migrants.
The co-lders of the AFD, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, responded in a joint statement saying that the decision of the intelligence service on Thursday was “an important first step” that would help “counteract the accusation of right-wing extremism.”
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution means that it cannot advance with previous plans to use improved tools such as video and audio surveillance, and the use of informants, to analyze the AFD activities, which came Second in parliamentary elections In February. It does not mean that the intelligence agency has eliminated those plans for good.
The decision, months in the realization, occurred days before the new German government led by conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz assumed the position on Tuesday, replacing the outgoing coalition led by the Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrat.
The Intelligence Agency cited a series of pronouncements of AFD officials, including statements such as “each additional foreigner in this country is too much,” said the German news agency DPA.
The US administration has criticized the decision of the Intelligence Service, which caused a replica of the German Foreign Ministry.
In a public networks publication last week, Secretary of State of the United States Marco Rubio He asked Germany to unleash the classification, saying the movement to give new powers to the espionage agency to see the opposition equal “disguised tyranny.”
The German Foreign Ministry responded by saying that the decision resulted from an independent investigation to protect the constitution of Germany and the rule of law.
