In North Rhine-Westphalia, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the state association of the AfD youth organization Junge Alternative (JA) as a suspected case. The JA NRW has “actual evidence to suspect that it is pursuing efforts that are directed against the free, democratic basic order,” said the State Interior Ministry in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. In the event of such an assessment, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in North Rhine-Westphalia is legally obliged to take action against the organization concerned.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) explained that there was “strong evidence” that the JA “does not play according to democratic rules, but prefers its own right-wing extremist rules.”
The Interior Ministry explained the reasons for the observation, among other things, that there was “comprehensive cooperation with numerous actors in the right-wing extremist movement of the New Right.” The JA NRW has swung to the political course of the JA federal association, which is characterized by a “national-ethnic understanding of the people and xenophobia”.
In addition, an “important factual indication” for efforts against the free-democratic basic order is the proximity of JA NRW to the “ethnic-nationalist group of people” within the AfD, the former “wing” under the Thuringian AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke. Cooperation with these people is “supported by ideological agreement”.
Several state offices for the protection of the constitution have already classified the respective state associations of the JA as confirmed or proven right-wing extremist. In addition, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the Junge Alternative as a whole as “certainly right-wing extremist” last April.
