Germany said on Monday, May 5th, that it “strongly rejects” criticism by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of its domestic spy agency’s decision to label the right-wing AfD party as an extremist group.
“I reiterate that the insinuations contained (in his comments) are certainly unfounded,” foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said.
Rubio had slammed Friday’s move against the AfD, which is currently the strongest party in Germany, as “tyranny in disguise,” and said “Germany should reverse course.”
The German foreign ministry took the unusual step of replying directly to Rubio on X to say: “This is democracy.” It stressed the BfV’s move was “the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our constitution.”
However, the BfV is under the command of the leftist interior ministry, and it is unlikely that it took its decision without political pressure.
The mainstream parties have been striving for many years to get rid of the AfD, and possibly ban the party, which has gained the support of a quarter of the population.
Both Rubio and U.S. Vice President JD Vance have been criticising Germany for the past few months for stifling free speech and for maintaining a cordon sanitaire surrounding the AfD.
