US
criticizes Germany for labeling AfD 'extremist'
Srinivas
Mazumdaru with AFP, dpa
4 hours ago
https://www.dw.com/en/us-criticizes-germany-for-labeling-afd-extremist/a-72423560
Trump
administration officials have condemned the move by Germany's domestic
intelligence agency to designate the far-right AfD party an extremist group,
setting off a diplomatic row between the two NATO allies.
Top-ranking
officials in US President Donald Trump's administration were quick to criticize
Germany's domestic intelligence agency BfV on Friday for designating the
far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a "right-wing
extremist" entity.
The agency
said the party's positions on ethnicity were incompatible with democracy,
noting that the AfD "aims to exclude certain population groups from equal
participation in society."
It also
highlighted the party's use of hateful rhetoric and incitement to undermine
democratic institutions.
The BfV had
previously designated several local AfD branches as right-wing extremist
groups, but it now said it decided to give the entire party the label due to
its attempts to "undermine the free, democratic" order in the
country.
The
designation gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party's activities.
The AfD
slammed the decision as "politically motivated."
It also drew
sharp criticism from across the Atlantic, with Trump administration officials
slamming the move.
What did
Vance and Rubio say?
US Vice
President JD Vance on Friday accused Germany of rebuilding a "Berlin
Wall."
"The
West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the
Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment," Vance wrote on
X.
In February,
Vance met with AfD leader Alice Weidel in Munich after delivering a contentious
speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused European nations
of failing to defend free speech, calling out Germany in particular.
Vance
complained that the AfD was being ostracized and called for it to end. The US
vice president's statements angered officials in Berlin.
US Secretary
of State Marco Rubio also waded in on Friday, calling the AfD designation as a
right-wing extremist outfit as "tyranny in disguise."
"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."
He said
"Germany should reverse course."
How has
Germany responded to the US criticism?
The German
Foreign Ministry replied directly to Rubio on X to say: "This is
democracy."
The ministry
said that the "decision is the result of a thorough and independent
investigation to protect our constitution" and could be appealed.
"We
have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be
stopped," the ministry said.
The AfD,
founded in 2013, has surged in popularity over the past few years by
capitalizing on fears over migration.
It is now
Germany's largest opposition party, after securing over 20% of the vote in
February's election, a record result and behind only the center-right CDU/CSU
bloc.
The AfD,
however, remains excluded from government due to the other parties' refusal to
collaborate with it due to its extremist tendencies.
Recent
opinion polls have put the party neck-and-neck or even slightly ahead of the
CDU/CSU alliance.
Several
lawmakers from across the political spectrum have already been working to get
enough support for a ban of the AfD party.
The spy
agency's decision now may give that effort new momentum.
Still, legal
hurdles to ban a political party are very high in Germany because of the
country's history.
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