Report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution: AfD insists on insight

The AfD in the state parliament continues to demand insight into the report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on the classification of its state association as a right-wing extremist organization. On Tuesday, MP Carsten Hütter criticized the fact that Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) had refused the request. He said that Schuster had refused to allow even the Parliamentary Control Commission (PKK), which is bound to secrecy, to view the 134-page AfD report. Hütter himself is a member of the commission.

"It is part of the standards of a constitutional procedure that the accused learns what he is specifically accused of. For this reason, I continue to demand immediate access to the entire expert report," emphasized Hütter. It would be even better if it were made available to the public in a transparent manner, he said. Apparently, however, the report "is so insubstantial in terms of content that it would exonerate the AfD".

In an answer to a minor question from Hütter in the state parliament, the Ministry of the Interior referred to confidentiality concerns. "For reasons of secrecy, the classification note, including the collection of material, is classified and is therefore not intended or suitable for publication," it said. At the same time, the ministry pointed out that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution communicates its findings in its annual report. The "intensity and level of detail" is at the sole discretion of the intelligence service.

In December 2023, the Saxony State Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the Saxon AfD state association as a "confirmed right-wing extremist endeavor". After Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, the Saxony AfD is the third state association with such a classification. The AfD Saxony had also filed a complaint with the administrative court regarding the classification.