German intelligence reports rise in extremist potential of far-right AfD members

The number of Alternative for Germany members who could potentially become far-right extremists has risen by 40%, the domestic intelligence service BfV and the interior ministry say in a report published today.

The report, covering 2025, finds that the far-right AfD has shown no signs of moderating positions that draw scrutiny from the intelligence services. Some 28,000 of the AfD’s about 70,000 members are considered to have the potential for right-wing extremism, up from 20,000 the year before, it says.

The AfD has pulled ahead of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives in national opinion polls and is far ahead of any other party in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where it could win power for the first time in a September election.

The AfD rejects the accusations that its views are extremist and has said the intelligence service’s assessments are politically motivated.

The BfV, which monitors extremist threats primarily through analysis of public statements and activities, defines extremism as efforts directed against Germany’s free democratic constitutional order.

The new report finds no indications that the party has over the past year distanced itself from the positions that concern the BfV’s authorities.

Those positions include the party’s espousal of an ethnic ancestry-based conception of the German people that courts have determined is incompatible with the constitution, it says.

The report cites comments by Bjoern Hoecke, the party’s leader in the eastern state of Thuringia, who referred to a UN resettlement program as “population replacement.”

Such comments are part of a process of “ideological homogenization,” with liberal-conservative positions in the party scarcely expressed in public, it says.

Right-wing extremism remains the greatest threat to democracy in Germany, the report says.

The authors highlighted an increasing number of younger people being attracted to right-wing extremism, especially online, as well as better networking and an increased shift towards violence among extremists as particularly alarming.

“From within, we face pressure from extremism of all stripes – in the digital space just as much as on the streets,” says Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.

Outside threats include sabotage and espionage, particularly from Russia, says BfV Vice President Sinan Selen.