Germany updates: Scholz says AfD ban 'must not be rushed'

Antje von Ungern-Sternberg, a professor of constitutional law at Trier University, spoke to DW about the renewed discussions about banning the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

She said she supportsbanning the party and explained that Germany has a concept of "militant democracy."

"Due to our history, we want to defend our democracy against its opponents and enemies and, therefore, in the last resort, we have the instrument of a party ban," von Ungern-Sternberg said.

As for how the AfD can be considered in violation of the German constitution, the professor said most arguments focus on the party's approach to human dignity for all people.

She said denying equality to people with a migratory background or who have a different religion "amounts to denying them human dignity." 

The professor also said that "the party and many of its adherents openly work against democratic institutions and delegitimizes them by saying they don't work properly."

She acknowledged that considerable support for the AfD comes from people feeling left behind.

"Of course, all the political parties have to work together to try to help solve problems so that this feeling of being left behind and other serious issues are also solved politically," von Ungern-Sternberg told DW.

Germany's Foreign Ministry defended the decision to label the far-right AfD party as a right-wing extremist group after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move "tyranny in disguise."

"This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law," the ministry wrote in a reply to Rubio on X. "It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped."

Germany's spy agency has designated the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) "extremist."

The party has slammed the label as "nonsense" and has vowed to mount a legal challenge. AfD lawmaker Beatrix von Storch vowed to escalate the move "into an international issue."

At least three people have been injured after a car drove into a crowd of people in the southern German city of Stuttgart.

Police said they had deployed a large number of officers to the scene and the driver had already been arrested.

It was not immediately clear if the incident was intentional or how it had happened. Germany has experienced a number of car ramming incidents in the past couple of years.

You can read the full story here.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has criticized the branding of the far-right AfD party as right-wing extremist by Germany's intelligence agency.

"Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition," Rubio said on X. "That's not democracy — it's tyranny in disguise."

The Trump administration has appeared favorable to the far-right party, with Trump ally Elon Musk hosting AfD co-leader Alice Weidel for an online talk just before Germany's February election.

"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 that the AfD opposes," the US top diplomat added.

While high-level diplomats have often refrained from commenting on the internal politics of other countries, especially allies, this has not been the case under the Trump administration.

Rubio went on to suggest that "Germany should reverse course."

Responding to the AfD being confirmed as an extremist entity by the county's domestic intelligence agency, a major union of journalists urged media outlets to tweak their coverage of Germany's top opposition party,

The AfD "is not a normal party in a democratic spectrum," according to the head of the German Journalists' Association (DJV) Mika Beuster.

"We journalists have to underline the party's nationalist, racists and far-right aspirations more clearly," Beuster said, adding that journalists need to report on the AfD "objectively and critically."

"The AfD provides simple answers to complex problems, which initially appeals to many people. However, the side effect is a slow poisoning of the democratic discourse. This should be highlighted in all reporting on the AfD," he added.

The AfD has often complained ofbeing treated unfairly compared to other, more established German parties.

With Germany's new government due to take office in days, the leader of Olaf Scholz's center-left SPD party called for a joint decision on dealing with the AfD, including a possible ban.

"The AfD is an attack on Germany," Lars Klingbeil, a co-chief of the SPD and incoming finance minister, told Germany's Bild tabloid.

"They want a different country, they want to destroy our democracy. And we must take that very seriously."

He also said elected politicians have a responsibility to decide how to protect democracy from its enemies.

"And we have to very quickly make decisions in the new government, the [new ruling] coalition, about what comes next," Klingbeil added.

While banning AfD could be seen as an option, Klingbeil also said that thorough consideration was needed before taking any dramatic steps.

Earlier today, outgoing Chancellor Scholz also warned any ban on the AfD "must not be rushed."

Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russia's president between 2008 and 2012 and then prime minister under Vladimir Putin until 2020, dismissed the move to label Germany's AfD as an extremist entity.

"Strong words to use against a parliamentary party," he wrote on X.

"Apparently, the CDU/CSU, SPD and other German party trivia consider those with higher ratings to be extremists."

What happens now? That's the question many are asking following the move to designate the AfD as a "right-wing extremist" organization.

Several lawmakers from across the political spectrum have been working to get enough support for a ban of the AfD party.

The domestic intelligence agency's decision to classify the AfD as extremist may give that effort new momentum.

DW's politics desk takes a deeper dive into what it takes for a party to be banned in accordance with the constitution and also looks at some of the positives and negatives of such a move. Read more here.

Heidi Reichinnek, the Left Party's top ranking lawmaker in Germany's parliament, pledged to do "everything" to bring about the ban on the AfD.

"It must be clear to everyone: A democracy does not survive power sharing with right-wing extremists like the AfD," said the 36-year-old head of the Left party faction in the Bundestag.

"Everyone who has campaigned for the normalization of the AfD and continues to do so are reinforcing right-wing extremists and endangering democracy," she said.

Upcoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz attempted and failed to pass a controversial law with support from the AfD in January. The move caused nationwide controversy and protests across Germany.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), previously labeled a "suspected" extremist group by Germany’s intelligence agency, challenged the designation in court but lost.

After a three-year investigation, the agency in its 1,100-page report now says it has concrete evidence that the AfD’s actions threaten Germany’s democratic order.

The report highlights the party’s use of hateful rhetoric and incitement to undermine democratic institutions.

The agency concludes that the AfD’s ethnocentric ideology is incompatible with Germany’s constitution, violating the principle of human dignity.

An example includes AfD MP Stephan Brandner, who, in an interview with the extremist blog PI-NEWS, discussed the alleged threat posed by Muslim population growth, describing it as a "problem" for Germany despite distancing himself from the term "birth jihad."

The report also cites the party’s authoritarian rhetoric, which casts doubt on democratic structures and the rule of law.

The AfD is now Germany’s largest opposition party, especially in the east, but remains excluded from government due to the other parties' refusal to collaborate with a party with extremist tendencies, a situation known as the "firewall."

Friedrich Merz, the incoming chancellor, faced criticism — also from within his own party — for passing a non-binding motion in the Bundestag with AfD support during the election campaign.

Two issues now need to be considered as the latest developments begin to sink in:

Firstly, the AfD has called the move "politically motivated" and announced it will challenge its extremist classification in court.

Secondly, legal hurdles to ban a party are very high in Germany because of the country’s history, but the agency’s move has intensified calls for an AfD ban.

As the world appears to have become increasingly polarized, the gaps between different social groups and entire countries are deepening, observers warn.

It comes amid wars, conflicts, migration, trade, climate, social issues and problems surrounding technological progress which affect the entire world and pay no heed to divisions and gaps.

DW's Hans Pfeifer writes about how the far-right have used issues like migration as a vehicle to sow division. You can read more about that here.

Following the official decision to label the entirety of Germany's AfD as "extremist," the far-right party decried the "targeted interference" in the democratic process.

"Today's decision by [the domestic intelligence agency] is a serious blow against German democracy,"  party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement.

They pointed out that the current government is due to leave office in four days and pledged to fight "defamation" in court.

"And yet, the AfD is being discredited and criminalized as an opposition party shortly before the change of government," Weidel and Chrupalla said, adding that attacks on the "democratic process of opinion building is therefore clearly politically motivated."

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party achieved its best results ever in the 2025 election. It is set to be the main opposition party, giving a more prominent role to its co-leader Alice Weidel.

DW takes a closer look at the woman who's become the public face of Germany's far right. 

Josef Schuster, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said AfD officials should not be trusted with state power, reacting to the party's labeling as extremist.

"AfD representatives should never reach governmental positions, not even via important positions in parliamentary committees or similar, and they should also never get access to information related to security," Schuster said.

Following the parliamentary election in February, the AfD has officially become Germany's strongest opposition party, second only to Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc.

"Who could have imagined that in the year 2025, a confirmed right-wing extremist party will be holding almost a quarter of lawmakers in Germany's parliament?" Schuster added on Friday.