The Federal Interior Ministry will not appeal the Cologne Administrative Court's decision that the AfD cannot be classified as a secured right-wing extremist group for now. The party remains a suspected case in the right-wing extremist spectrum. A ruling in the main proceedings is still pending.
The Cologne Administrative Court ruled in an expedited procedure that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) cannot classify the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a secured right-wing extremist endeavor and observe it accordingly for the time being. This decision from Thursday will not be challenged: A spokesman for the Federal Interior Ministry told the German Press Agency: "A complaint against the decision of the VG Cologne in the expedited procedure is not planned." As a result, the expedited decision becomes legally binding.
The AfD nevertheless remains classified as a suspected case in the right-wing extremist spectrum. The Interior Ministry is now focusing on the ongoing main proceedings, in which the BfV will continue to argue for the classification. The court justified its decision by stating that while endeavors directed against the free democratic basic order are being pursued within the AfD, they do not shape the party's overall image in a way that would allow a constitutionally hostile basic tendency to be established.
Background: In May 2025, the BfV announced that it would process the entire party as a secured extremist endeavor. The constitutional protection agency's report identified a predominant "ethnic-ancestral" understanding of the people in the AfD that devalues population groups and violates their human dignity. The AfD sued against this. The suspected case classification still allows the BfV to use intelligence means such as surveillance and the deployment of informants. Whether the court will rule differently in the main proceedings depends on additional evidence.
