Germany - November 2023

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and state governors reached an agreement to address the rising migrant influx, implementing measures such as expediting asylum procedures, making deportation easier, restricting benefits for asylum-seekers, and providing increased financial aid to affected states and local communities. The authorities said that the aim of these measures is to reduce irregular migration. Amid the ongoing refugee crisis, Germany has taken in over 1 million Ukrainians, prompting changes in the financing system for asylum seekers.

Sources: Euronews, Bundesministeriums des Innern und für Heimat 

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), responsible for monitoring anti-constitutional groups, has classified the regional branch of the Alternative for Germany (AfD)  in Saxony-Anhalt, a right-wing wing populist party, with the highest category used by the domestic intelligence service — ‘definitely extremist aspirations.’ Authorities stated that they gathered significant evidence, revealing Islamophobic, antisemitic, and racist statements by AfD officials, which violate the three pillars of the German constitution: human dignity, the principles of democracy, and the rule of law. The classification grants BfV expanded state-level surveillance authority, enabling systematic collection of personal data without restrictions on intelligence gathering. This decision coincides with the upcoming regional elections in 2024 in Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Saxony, where polls indicate a rise in support for the far-right AfD, ranging from 15 to 35 per cent. Saxony-Anhalt's AfD becomes the second party chapter to be classified as right-wing extremist, following its branch in Thuringia in 2021.

Sources: Deutsche Welle, Politico, mdr, ZEIT Online