BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s domestic spy agency has classified the youth organization of far-right party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The agency already started observing the Young Alternatives due to suspicion of extremism in 2019.
On Wednesday, it said was also classifying the Institute for State Policy and the organization “One Percent” as extremist entities.
“There are no doubts anymore that these three groups pursue efforts that are contrary to the constitution,” the head of the spy agency Thomas Haldenwang said in the statement.
The new classification could have an impact on members’ ability to be employed in the public sector or to get licenses for weapons.
Politically it is also a blow to the AfD, which was founded in 2013 as an anti-euro party during the euro zone debt crisis but has shifted to the right and become Germany’s most successful far-right party since World War Two.
Currently, the party is polling around 15-17%, just a few percentage points behind the Greens and the ruling Social Democrats (SPD), as it capitalizes on voter anger over rising energy prices in the wake of sanctions on Russia.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
