Experts warn of security risks if AfD wins
Ahead of Sunday’s regional election in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, experts are warning of possible consequences for security and defense if the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wins and forms a state government. The Local Germany reports that this could become the first case of a far-right party forming a state government in postwar Germany.
Work of intelligence services and police
AfD has promised to reform the state branch of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which performs domestic intelligence functions, if it wins. In 2023, the agency classified the party’s state branch as a right-wing extremist organization, and the classification was later extended to AfD across the country. The party is challenging this decision in court.
AfD claims that the BfV is used against opponents of established parties and has threatened to abolish the service if it gains an absolute majority and comes to power in the state. Even without abolishing the agency, the party could influence its work, including by replacing its leadership. According to the source, intelligence priorities could also shift toward countering left-wing radicalism rather than right-wing extremism.
Access to classified data
Konstantin von Notz, deputy chairman of Germany’s parliamentary committee overseeing intelligence services, told AFP that he expects serious consequences for security policy if AfD comes to power. In his view, right-wing extremists with close ties to dictatorial regimes, primarily Russia — an aggressor state — could take up responsible positions and gain access to sensitive security information and databases.
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At the same time, Wolfgang Merkel, a political scientist at the Berlin Social Science Center WZB, considers it unlikely that AfD would pass secret data to Moscow, as this would constitute treason. Domestic intelligence services exchange information through special systems about suspected extremists, planned attacks, and hybrid threats, including those from Russia.
Possible actions by federal authorities
Saxony-Anhalt has military bases and training grounds. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expressed concern about AfD’s possible access to information on such facilities and called for preventing AfD ministers in the state government from accessing classified information.
Welt newspaper reported that the federal government is developing emergency plans in case individual states attempt to obstruct the movement of NATO troops. Article 37 of Germany’s Basic Law allows the federal government, with the consent of the upper house of parliament, to compel a state to fulfill its obligations. Cologne University security expert Luca Manns believes that a serious dispute between Berlin and state authorities would most likely be considered by the Constitutional Court.
