US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the German foreign ministry engaged in a war of words after the former accused the government of America’s key ally nation of “tyranny in disguise” for designating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an ‘extremist’ group.
The move comes just months after the party finished second in the German federal elections in February.
Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency had on Friday classified the far-right party as “extremist” and cited a 1,100-page experts’ report which reportedly found AfD to be a ‘racist and anti-Muslim organisation’.
“Central to our assessment is the ethnically and ancestrally defined concept of the people that shapes the AfD, which devalues entire segments of the population in Germany and violates their human dignity,” the German spy agency said.
‘Tyranny in disguise’
Rubio slammed AfD’s classification on Friday afternoon. He took to X and wrote, “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy — it’s tyranny in disguise.”
He defended the ‘popular’ AfD and said that it is not the far-right party who is ‘truly extremist’ but, “the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes”. “Germany should reverse course,” Rubio added.
The German Foreign Office gave a direct response to the US State Secretary’s post and justified the designation of AfD as an extremist entity as “democracy”.
“This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our Constitution and the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,” it posted on X.
This is not the first time that a top-level official from the Donald Trump official has spoken out about German politics and the far-right party. One of AfD’s top politicians, Björn Höcke, was last year accused of using banned Nazi slogans at two rallies in 2021.
‘Bureaucrats trying to destroy it’
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance also echoed Rubio’s stance. He also termed AfD as the “most popular” party in Germany and also the “most representative” of East Germany thus far.
In a post on his personal X account, Vance wrote, “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it,” he said.
Vance further added, “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.”
‘Xenophobic, anti-Minority’
BfV domestic intelligence agency, meanwhile, described AfD and said, “It aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, subject them to unconstitutional discrimination, and thus assign them a legally devalued status.”
“Specifically, for example, the AfD does not consider German citizens with a migration history from predominantly Muslim countries to be equal members of the German people, as defined ethnically by the party,” it added.
It said that party’s political leaders have underpinned “continuous agitation” against minorities, stirring fear and hostility towards them. “This is evident in the numerous xenophobic, anti-minority, anti-Islamic, and anti-Muslim statements continually made by leading party officials,” the state spy agency said.
(with agencies inputs)
