Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which placed second in February's federal election, as a “right-wing extremist effort” that threatens democracy.
The move enables the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to use secret methods to monitor the party, for example, by recruiting confidential informants and intercepting communications with tools such as audio and video recordings nationwide.
The AfD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The stigma, as well as restrictions on civil service employment, could also hamper its ability to attract members.
"The ethnicity-and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order," the domestic intelligence agency said in a statement.
"It aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to treatment that violates the constitution, and thereby assign them a legally subordinate status."
The AfD does not consider German citizens of immigrant background from predominantly Muslim countries as equal members of the German people, it added.
This approach led to individuals and groups being "defamed and vilified", stirring up "irrational fears and hostility toward them," it added.
The decision comes days before conservative leader Friedrich Merz is due to be sworn in as Germany's new chancellor and amid a heated debate over how to deal with the AfD in the new parliament.
The party won a record number of seats which theoretically entitles it to chair several key parliamentary committees, although it would still need the backing of other parties.
Analysts said the decision risks further fueling support for the AfD and its narrative that it is being sidelined by a "cartel" of established parties. The party has topped several polls in recent weeks.
Certain factions of the AfD such as its youth wing had already been classified as extremist, while the party at large was classified as a suspected extremist case in 2021.
The measure does not amount to a ban of the party, which can only take place through a request by either of parliament's two chambers or the federal government through the Federal Constitutional Court.
