Tech billionaire Elon Musk and US Vice President JD Vance have come out in defense of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, after it was officially labeled a “proven right-wing extremist organisation” by the country’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
The designation, which allows increased surveillance of the party, has sparked sharp international criticism.
JD Vance sharing a post on X said that, “the AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.”
He accused Germany’s political establishment of “rebuilding the Berlin Wall,” a pointed reference to Cold War-era suppression.
Elon Musk responded to Vance’s post with the cryptic phrase, “Fate loves irony.”
Musk has openly supported the AfD in recent months. He even hosted AfD co-leader Alice Weidel in a livestreamed conversation on X and encouraged Germans to vote for the party ahead of the federal elections.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in, calling the decision “tyranny in disguise,” and warned that German intelligence now has “new powers to surveil the opposition.”
“This is democracy,” he posted on X. “We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,” he added.
In a rare move, Germany’s Foreign Office publicly responded, defending the decision by stating, “This is democracy. We have learned from our history that right-wing extremism must be stopped.”
The AfD came second in February’s national elections, securing a record 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag with 20.8% of the vote, especially gaining traction in eastern Germany.
The BfV justified the extremist designation by stating that the party’s ethnic- and ancestry-based definition of citizenship “is incompatible with the free democratic order.”
It also accused the AfD of rejecting equal rights for citizens with Muslim and immigrant backgrounds, according to BBC.
AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla slammed the move as “clearly politically motivated” and a “severe blow to German democracy,” arguing that the party was being “discredited and criminalized” just before a government transition.
Meanwhile, German lawmakers are set to vote next week to confirm conservative leader Friedrich Merz as the new chancellor, leading a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats. Once in office, Merz will decided whether to pursue a ban on the far-right AfD classified as a “right-wing extremist party.”
Many critics of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has surged in the polls, believe the party poses a danger to liberal democracy and should be outlawed.
