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🇩🇪 Germany /Conflict & Security

Berlin Greens say AfD should be monitored by the domestic intelligence service

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • Berlin Greens leader Werner Graf called for transparency about whether the capital’s AfD branch has an official monitoring status.
  • Berlin’s Interior Ministry said the intelligence service could not comment publicly before the Sept. 20, 2026 elections because of its neutrality obligations.
  • Graf said recent legal changes allow authorities to inform the public about suspected cases, while the AfD did not respond to the allegations.

The Berlin Greens want the city’s domestic intelligence service to clarify whether it is monitoring the local AfD branch after the party’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

Werner Graf, the Greens’ parliamentary group leader and lead candidate for the Berlin election on Sept. 20, said Interior Senator Iris Spranger and the Berlin intelligence service should make the party’s “monitoring status” transparent. The public should be informed if the legal conditions are met, he said.

The Berlin AfD is a danger to our democracy

· Werner GrafThe Berlin Greens’ lead candidate accused the party of threatening democratic institutions.

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the matter in response to a dpa inquiry. It said the neutrality requirement ahead of the elections to Berlin’s House of Representatives and district councils prevented the intelligence service from publicly discussing individual parties and protected equal participation in political competition.

The Berlin AfD promotes an ethnic-nationalist vision of society, attacks human dignity, spreads racist and far-right narratives, and repeatedly portrays democratic procedures as illegitimate

· Werner GrafGraf listed the allegations behind his call for intelligence-service monitoring.

Graf argued that a change to the domestic intelligence law, adopted several months ago, had allowed the Berlin service since Sept. 1 to disclose information about suspected cases. Previously, authorities could inform the public only after classifying a party or organization as definitively far-right extremist. That classification applies to AfD state branches in Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Lower Saxony, but not to Berlin.

“The Berlin AfD is a danger to our democracy,” Graf said. He accused the party of promoting an ethnic-nationalist vision of society, attacking human dignity, spreading racist and far-right narratives, and repeatedly portraying democratic procedures as illegitimate. He also cited close links to the far right and said the overall picture made the Berlin AfD a case for the intelligence service. The AfD did not comment on the Greens’ initiative or Graf’s accusations when asked by dpa.

The overall picture is clear: the Berlin AfD is a case for the domestic intelligence service

· Werner GrafHe summarized the Greens’ argument for public scrutiny of the party.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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