Berlin’s Higher Administrative Court Confirms Ruling on AfD Extremism Report
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior will not be required to correct the 2022 Constitution Protection Report, which mentioned the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s alleged extremist potential. The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg has confirmed a previous ruling by the Administrative Court of Berlin in a lawsuit filed by the AfD.
The 2022 report stated that the AfD has an estimated extremist potential of around 10,000 people, or 30 to 40 percent of its members. The AfD had argued that these claims were legally and factually unfounded, but the Administrative Court of Berlin had rejected its appeal in February 2024.
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior is entitled to inform the public about efforts against the free and democratic basic order, as per the Constitution Protection Act, as long as there are sufficient factual indications of such efforts, the court had previously stated. The ministry had argued that there were substantial indications of a right-wing extremist potential within the AfD, particularly among its former “wing” members who formed a network.
The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg has now upheld the lower court’s decision, stating that the report’s claims on the AfD’s extremist potential, both in terms of the existence of sufficient factual indications and the quantification of that potential, were not subject to review. The court also found that no constitutional or European law provisions stood in the way of the report’s publication.
The decision is not appealable (OVG 1 S 18/24).