When the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) deplores the state of the country, it often also portrays itself as a victim: a victim of the intelligence agencies for investigating it for suspected right-wing extremism; a victim of the other parties for stigmatizing it; and a victim of the courts for convicting AfD politicians of criminal offenses.

However, a look at the party's financing paints a very different picture. That is because the AfD benefits significantly from state party financing. From 2025 to early 2029 alone, which is the current legislative period of the German Bundestag, the AfD will receive a total of around €500 million ($580 million) in state funds for its party and parliamentary work.

And money flows freely from many funding sources. In Germany, publicly funding political parties is a key pillar of its parliamentary democracy. For every vote a party receives in an election, it receives just under one euro from the state. And for every euro that citizens donate to the party or to elected representatives of their own party, the state adds 45 cents. As a result, Alternative for Germany received a total of €12.78 million in state party funding in 2025. By comparison, the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) received €54 million from the state.

However, the really big money goes into parliamentary work. The state wants to help its elected representatives fulfill their democratic duties. In addition to financial compensation for their work, each member of the Bundestag receives a monthly expense allowance, as well as money for staff and office equipment. According to the Bundestag, this amounts to a total of just under €540,000 per member per year.

AfD members of the Bundestag: €82 million per year

Following its success in the 2025 federal elections, the AfD entered the Bundestag in record numbers, with 152 members now comprising its parliamentary group. This means that, for their work in the Bundestag alone, all AfD parliamentarians together receive around €82 million from the state each year.

In addition, millions more are paid to AfD MPs for their work in state parliaments: the party is now represented in almost all federal states, where it has well over 200 MPs.

State funds are calculated equally for all parties and all members of parliament. These payments are particularly controversial in the case of the AfD, however, as the party is being monitored by a number of domestic intelligence agencies for suspected right-wing extremism and is even listed as "confirmed right-wing extremist" in three federal states.

That means that numerous right-wing extremists, some of whom have a neo-Nazi background, are working in the parliaments at the government's expense. Many right-wing extremist commentators are now able to earn a living through the AfD members' offices. Meanwhile, some important German courts have found enough evidence to suggest the party is trying to undermine the constitution. These include the Higher Administrative Court in Münster and the Administrative Court in Munich. So is the state supporting its own enemies?

"The AfD's ideology is a threat to democracy," says Steffen Kailitz in an interview with DW. He is a researcher at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies in Dresden. But what makes the party a threat to democracy? "It is above all its ethnic understanding of humanity, in which those German citizens who are not ethnically German are at least implicitly deemed second-class citizens."

The AfD is opposed to Germany's multicultural society. It advocates the deportation of millions of people. It repeatedly refuses to recognize immigrants as Germans, even if they hold a German passport. The party's radical demands and campaigns have succeeded in appealing to millions of people, as demonstrated by its electoral successes.

This is where money once again comes into play. "Without money, no election campaign can be financed," says political scientist Steffen Kailitz. "In this respect, it is of course essential for a party." The party has built up notable influence, especially on social media. Without money, this would hardly have been possible.

"In the early days of the AfD, I received requests from several AfD entities to come on board as a consultant. They offered me a lot of money," Martin Fuchs told DW. He is a political consultant and social media expert from Hamburg. "They tried to lure me over to the AfD with a ton of cash. So yeah, money really helps you get good people on board."

AfD: Money for PR instead of serious policymaking?

Fuchs has been watching the AfD's digital presence for years. He says that with the help of funding, they've been able to build up successful communication structures pretty quickly. "When they entered the Bundestag, the party decided to invest money in infrastructure and has set up a so-called 'newsroom' in the Bundestag parliamentary group. The AfD has therefore invested money in minds, in human capital, which other parliamentary groups have not done in this form. They have tended to invest in experts in specific policy areas."

The AfD has created a whole network of news agencies, political consultant Martin Fuchs explained. "There is now a whole network of agencies in Germany that work mainly for the AfD and AfD-affiliated groups. These agencies would not exist if there had been no money."

Political scientist Steffen Kailitz believes that the public funding of the party has created a paradox. "The state is spending money to combat right-wing extremism while at the same time providing significant financial support to a right-wing extremist party. From a democratic perspective, it is clear that this creates some conflicts."

German constitution: The state should only fund democratic parties

Kailitz thinks that Germany's highest court should rule on whether it's even legal for the state to fund the AfD, given how radical it is. After all, Germany's constitution sets limits on party funding.

It states: "Parties that, by reason of their aims or the behavior of their adherents, are oriented towards an undermining or abolition of the free democratic basic order or an endangerment of the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany shall be excluded from state financing. If such exclusion is determined, any favorable fiscal treatment of these parties and of payments made to those parties shall cease."

The bar for such an exclusion would be high. As with banning a political party, a request would have to be made by the federal government, the Bundestag, or the Bundesrat. The decision would then be made by Germany's highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court.

This article was originally written in German.

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