GERMANY’S domestic intelligence agency was justified in putting the far-right Alternative for Germany under observation for suspected extremism, a court ruled today, rejecting an appeal from the opposition party.

The administrative court in Muenster ruled in favour of the BfV intelligence agency, upholding a 2022 decision by a lower court in Cologne. 

The decision means the agency can continue to keep the far-right party under observation.

The court found that there was a sufficient legal basis for the designation, while stressing that the step doesn’t inevitably lead to the party being designated a proven case of right-wing extremism.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has strongly rejected the designation and portrayed it as a political attempt to discredit the party. 

Roman Reusch, a member of its national leadership, said the party will seek to appeal. Peter Boehringer, a deputy leader, complained that the court had not taken up “hundreds” of requests for evidence.

AfD has been polling strongly in Germany in recent months as discontent is high with centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition government. 

But its national ratings declined somewhat following a media report in January that extremists met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, and that some figures from the party attended. 

The report triggered mass protests in the country against the rise of the far-right.

Today’s ruling pointed to widespread use in the party of derogatory terms toward refugees and Muslims and indications of anti-democratic aspirations, though it said the latter were not of the frequency and density surmised by the BfV.

In an unrelated case, a verdict is expected tomorrow in the trial of one of AfD’s best-known figures, Bjorn Hocke, on charges of using a Nazi slogan. 

Mr Hocke, who is the AfD’s leader in the eastern region of Thuringia, where he plans to run for governor in September, denies the charges.