Germany's domestic intelligence agency has said it will await a court ruling before moving forward with plans to classify the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a "right-wing extremist" movement, a step that could subject the party to broader surveillance and scrutiny of its activities.
The announced pause comes after the party filed a lawsuit in the western city of Cologne against the move by the BfV intelligence service and the party's supporters alleged a politically motivated crackdown.
German officials have denied that allegation and have faulted what they called the party's "ongoing agitation" against refugees and migrants.
The AfD's co-leaders, Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, responded in a joint statement saying the intelligence service's decision was "a first important step" that would help "counter the accusation of right-wing extremism."
The pause by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution means that it cannot move forward with previous plans to use enhanced tools like video and audio surveillance, and use informants, to scrutinise the activities of the AfD, which came second in parliamentary elections in February.
It does not mean that the intelligence agency has dropped those plans for good.
The decision, months in the making, came days before the new German government led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office on Tuesday, replacing the outgoing coalition led by the Social Democrats' Olaf Scholz.
The intelligence agency cited a number of pronouncements by AfD officials, including statements like, "Every additional foreigner in this country is one too many," the German news agency dpa reported.
The US administration has criticised the decision by the intelligence service, prompting a retort from the German Foreign Ministry.
In a social media post last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Germany to undo the classification, saying the move to give new powers to the spy agency to watch the opposition amounted to "tyranny in disguise."
The German Foreign Ministry responded by saying the decision resulted from an independent investigation to protect Germany's Constitution and the rule of law.
