Constitutional protection category "delegitimizers" on the retreat

The extremism category "delegitimization of the state relevant to the protection of the constitution" introduced by the domestic intelligence service in 2021 is becoming increasingly less important. As the German Press Agency has learned from security circles, the number of those who now consider it unnecessary has recently risen among federal and state constitution protectors. Saxony has already decided to no longer use the category in future. For practical reasons, the changeover is to take place on January 1, 2026.

The category was created during the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, the new phenomenon area served as a kind of catch-all for extremist actors who, at first glance, could not be assigned to any of the known categories - Islamism, right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism, foreign-related extremism, so-called Reichsbürger and self-administrators.

Extremists will continue to be monitored by the domestic intelligence service

For people who are currently assigned to this category, however, this does not automatically mean that the domestic intelligence service will no longer keep an eye on them in future. "In the opinion of the constitution protection authorities, it is still necessary to monitor people who are engaged in delegitimization relevant to the protection of the constitution within the framework of the legal mandate," a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told dpa. Whether underlying extremist efforts are presented to the public as a separate phenomenon, however, remains the responsibility of the respective authorities.

In other words, the departments and offices for the protection of the constitution in the individual federal states can now, in principle, handle it as they see fit on the ground.

"I welcome the fact that the topic of "delegitimization of the state relevant to the protection of the constitution" is now closed," Saxony's Interior Minister, Armin Schuster (CDU), told dpa. Nevertheless, the small group of actors who are still relevant to observation and who have been assigned to this phenomenon area in the Free State will remain in the focus of the constitutional protectors.

From Schuster's point of view, the planned abolition of this category does not mean that the decision to set it up in 2021 was wrong. He says: "With this step, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is proving that it classifies and categorizes phenomena appropriately."

Left: Category is too "vague"

Clara Bünger, domestic policy spokesperson for the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has always found the new phenomenon area superfluous. "The "delegitimization of the state" category introduced in 2021 is not only vague, but also artificially fragments the threat situation and thus trivializes right-wing extremist groups in particular that share this goal," she says.

According to the 2024 report on the protection of the constitution, around 1,500 people were attributed to the controversial category nationwide, compared to 1,600 "delegitimizers" the year before, of which around 250 were considered to be ready to use violence at the time. According to the BfV, actors from this spectrum "disparage democratic decision-making processes and institutions or call for official or judicial orders and decisions to be ignored".

BfV has been waiting a long time for new leadership

The category will certainly still appear in the report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which maps developments in 2025. In the long term, however, it could also be abolished at federal level.

However, a decision on this is not expected until Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) has decided on the new composition of the BfV's top management. His ministry is keeping mum on when this might be the case.

The question of who will succeed Thomas Haldenwang as head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been raised since November 2024. Since his departure, the domestic intelligence service has been jointly headed by Vice President Sinan Selen and Vice President Silke Willems.

Dobrindt is taking his time

The minister will decide on the successor in due course, is the standard answer when asked about this in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. However, it is possible that the coalition wants to reach an agreement first, also to avoid public disputes over personnel - as was the case in July with the unsuccessful nomination of the SPD's proposed lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf for the Federal Constitutional Court.