Germany’s domestic intelligence service has designated the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the biggest opposition party, as a “confirmed rightwing extremist” force, meaning authorities can step up their surveillance as critics call for it to be legally banned. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) had since 2021 considered the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin party a “suspected” threat to Germany’s democratic order, with regional chapters in three eastern states classed as confirmed extremist. The AfD came second in the February general election with just over 20% of the vote. The Cologne-based BfV said it had concluded that the “ethnic-ancestry-based...