Marco Rubio

    Marco Rubio slam Germany’s AfD ban, call it a blow to democracy.

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Germany’s Foreign Ministry became embroiled in a heated exchange after Rubio criticised the German government, calling it “tyranny in disguise” for labelling the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as an extremist organisation. Notably, the move comes only a few months after the party secured second place in the German federal elections held in February.
    Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), formally classified as AFD as an extremist organisation. This decision was based on a 1,100-page expert report that allegedly identified the party as “racist and anti-Muslim.”

    “Central to our assessment is the ethnically and ancestrally defined concept of the people that shapes the AfD, which devalues entire segments of the population in Germany and violates their human dignity,” the agency stated.

    Rubio criticised the BfV’s decision in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating, “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy — it’s tyranny in disguise.”

    He defended the widely supported AFD, arguing that it is not the far-right party that is “truly extremist,” but rather “the establishment’s dangerous open-border immigration policies that the AFD stands against.” Rubio urged, “Germany should reverse course.”

    The German Foreign Office directly responded to the US Secretary of State’s post, defending the classification of the AFD as an extremist group and describing it as an entity of “democracy.”

    “This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our Constitution and the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,” it posted on X.

    This is not the first instance of a high-ranking official from Donald Trump’s circle commenting on German politics and the far-right AFD. Last year, one of the party’s senior leaders, Björn Höcke, faced accusations of using banned Nazi slogans during two rallies in 2021.

    Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance echoed Rubio’s views, describing the AFD as the “most popular” party in Germany and the one that “most accurately represents” the people of East Germany to date.

    In a post on his personal X account, Vance wrote, “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 said.

    Vance further added, “The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.”

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