Politicians from three German mainstream parties, the centre-right CDU, the Greens, and the liberal FDP, are demanding that the domestic intelligence agency (Verfassungsschutz) place left-wing nationalist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) under observation.
Their justification is that the BSW—a party founded last year after its split from far-left Die Linke—is flirting with radical and authoritarian forces and its activities “are directed against the free democratic basic order.”
This is the same justification that is being used by the ruling elites in Germany to try and ban the second most popular party, the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The calls for spying on the BSW were prompted by the party’s recent defence of pro-Russian propagandist Alina Lipp, who is under EU sanctions. In addition, BSW members in the state of Brandenburg expressed support for the organisation Friedensbrücke, whose leader is suspected of financing terrorist activities in eastern Ukraine.
Sahra Wagenknecht fired back on her X account, declaring that the proposal to have her party monitored by the domestic spy agency was “ridiculous.”
The party has irked the liberal mainstream with its anti-migration and anti-gender ideology stance, as well as for rejecting the so-called Brandmauer, the isolation of the AfD by the other parties.
Ridiculous: backbenchers of the Greens, CDU, and FDP want the Verfassungsschutz to spy on BSW because we stand for freedom of expression, demand pragmatic relations with Russia, and reject the undemocratic Brandmauer.
The AfD has been under surveillance by the Verfassungsschutz since a court ruling in 2022 after it was classified by the domestic intelligence agency as a “suspected extremist organisation.”This year, it was classified as “proven extremist”—the preliminary step in the process of banning the party—but the AfD has challenged the label in court.
