Published On 5/7/2026
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that the federal government is considering withholding information from ministers in regional administrations if their local authorities are composed of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
In response to a question from the “Bild” newspaper whether a local government led by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) would have consequences for the military bases in that region, Pistorius said, “We are closely examining the issue of who we can give access to classified information.” He added, “We are obligated to do so because it is related to the security of our country.”
According to Pistorius, who belongs to the center-left Social Democratic Party, he would not be comfortable providing a minister from the Alternative for Germany party in a regional government with confidential information.
He went on to say, “It is enough for one to listen to the public statements of many representatives of the Alternative for Germany party… their closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be ignored,” noting also that “suspicions about receiving money from Russia still exist.”
The minister stressed – according to the Deutsche Welle website – that sensitive information should not fall into the “wrong hands,” adding, “We are working intensively on the issue of who we can grant access to information classified as confidential, and we are already doing that now, and we are obligated to do so because the matter is related to the security of our country.”
Weights
Opinion polls indicate that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) may win an absolute majority in the Saxony-Anhalt regional elections next September, which will allow it for the first time to form a local government.
Under the federal system in Germany, regional governments enjoy broad powers in several areas, including police and intelligence activities, while the Alternative for Germany party’s close relations with Moscow raise constant criticism.
Next September, elections will also be held in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region, which is also located in the stronghold of the Alternative for Germany party in the east. The party leads in opinion polls in this region as well, but its chances of achieving an absolute majority are less.
Since the party came in second in last year’s general elections, it has continued its steady progress in opinion polls at the national level, while the coalition of the centrist right-wing Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union parties led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz fell to second place.
