Vance writes on X that bureaucrats are trying to destroy AFD.
"The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. Now it has been rebuilt – not by the Soviet Union or Russia, but by the German establishment", writes the Vice President.
The German Constitutional Protection Agency announced on Friday that AFD has been found to counteract the "liberal democratic basic order" and that the party is classified as right-wing extremist. The same applied to its youth association and several state branches already earlier.
Verbal clash on X
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls the decision "disguised tyranny" in a comment on X.
"What is truly extremist is not the popular AFD – which came second in the last election – but rather the establishment's deadly immigration policy with open borders, which AFD opposes. Germany should change direction."
The German Foreign Office emphasizes, in a response directed to Rubio on X, that the decision is the result of an independent investigation conducted to protect the country's constitution.
"We have learned from our history that right-wing extremism must be stopped", writes the Foreign Office.
Doubling
AFD, which pursues a xenophobic and Russia-friendly policy, received 20.8 percent of the votes in the February election. It was a doubling of the party's result in 2021. Several fresh opinion polls indicate that the party now has voter support of around 25 percent.
The party as a whole has so far been considered "suspected" of being right-wing extremist, which has already given the police and security services extensive opportunities for surveillance through, for instance, informants and wiretapping.
