AfD supporters of the former "wing" front man Björn Höcke: Numbers may continue to be mentioned by the protection of the constitution
Photo: Bodo Schackow / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
Only recently, the AfD federal party filed two lawsuits and two urgent motions before the Cologne Administrative Court.
They serve as a precaution.
While one case is against the fact that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the party as a suspected case in the area of right-wing extremism and publishes this publicly, the other complaint turns against the numerical naming of the supporters of the now officially dissolved "wing" network.
Now, however, the AfD has suffered a defeat in one of the two lawsuits: the administrative court on Tuesday rejected its request for an interim regulation to specify the number of members.
From the point of view of the party, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution should thus be forbidden from publicly announcing that the "wing" had around 7,000 members until its dissolution last spring.
At the same time, the AfD had applied for an interim regulation, a so-called hanging resolution, to be issued pending a decision on this urgent application.
Otherwise, they argue, there is a risk of irreparable interference in political competition, and the figure of 7,000 is fictitious.
The announcement would have a stigmatizing and damaging effect, because it attaches a meaning to the political views represented by the "wing" that they actually do not have in the party, so the argument of the AfD.
The administrative court rejected the request, however, according to a press release from the court on Tuesday.
Whether an interim regulation is necessary must be determined through a weighing of interests.
This is not based on the probable chances of success of the urgent application, but solely on the consequences of the interim decision.
Such a weighing is at the expense of the AfD.
According to the court, the likely consequences of the disclosure in question should be assessed as "minor".
The number of members of 7,000 had already been made public earlier, according to the BfV in December 2019, according to which the intelligence service came to 7,000 people.
This number of people can also be found in the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and in a press release from the Federal Office on March 12, 2020, that the inclusion of the number in the 2019 report on the Protection of the Constitution was also unsuccessfully attacked by the AfD, according to the court.
The AfD can lodge a complaint against the decision
The "wing" was dissolved in the spring of 2020 by the Thuringian AfD state and parliamentary leader Björn Höcke, together with the former AfD politician Andreas Kalbitz, once a leading figure in the network - after he had been classified as right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The decision now made by the administrative court is to be seen separately from another lawsuit by the AfD against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution - against the alleged classification as a suspected case.
The administrative court also pointed this out in its press release.
When a decision will be made in these proceedings "is currently open", according to the court's press office.
The classification as a suspected case would have serious consequences for the party in the Bundestag election year: This could lead to an intelligence service observation by the domestic secret service, including the use of informers and wiretapping of telecommunications.
In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD regional association there has been listed by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected case in the area of right-wing extremism since the beginning of this week.
For the time being no decision in Cologne
Whether and when such a decision will also be made at the federal level cannot yet be foreseen.
As SPIEGEL learned from AfD circles, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is said to have issued a so-called standstill statement to the Cologne Administrative Court on Monday, according to which the office initially refrained from publicly announcing the AfD as a suspected case.
Accordingly, the court waived a hanging decision that the AfD wanted to obtain in this case.
The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported a similar report on Tuesday.
A suspected case publication was originally expected this week.
A 1000-page report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is currently still being examined by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
As SPIEGEL learned, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) instructed the lawyers of his house to thoroughly bend over the opinion of the constitutional protection officers with the BfV experts - the reason for the changed classification should be absolutely legally secure, a successful lawsuit by the AfD be excluded in the Bundestag election year.
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