The German Foreign Ministry defended a decision to classify the alternative Für Deutschland (AFD) party as a right-wing extremist, after receiving sharp criticism at the White House.

Vice President JD Vance accused the “bureaucrats” of rebuilding the Berlin Wall, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio lashed out the title as “a disguised tyranny.”

The Foreign Ministry answered Rubio directly on X in an unusual move, writing: "We have learned from history that right-wing extremism needs to stop."

The intelligence agencies of this classification found that the AFD "based on race and descendants' universal understanding of people" was related to Germany's "liberal democratic order."

The AFD ranked second in the federal election in February, winning a record 152 seats in a 630-seat parliament with 20.8% of the vote.

The agency Bundesamt Für Verfassungsschutz (BFV) has classified AFD as the right-wing extremist in its three most popular eastern states. Now, the name has been extended to the entire party.

It said in a statement that the AFD “is ​​intended to exclude certain demographic groups from equal participation in society.” The agency specifically said the party did not view citizens as “mostly from Muslim countries” as equal members of the German people.

United Party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said the decision was "apparently politically motivated" and "a serious blow to German democracy".

Beatrix von Storch, the party’s deputy parliamentary leader, told the BBC’s new promulgation plan that the designation is “a dictatorship, the way dictatorship is ruled”.

The new classification gives authorities greater power to use strategies such as phone interception and undercover agents to monitor AFDs.

Marco Rubio on X wrote: "That's not democracy - disguise is tyranny."

But the German Foreign Ministry repelled.

It reads: “This is a democratic country, answering the politician’s X account directly.

The post said the decision was made after a “thorough and independent investigation” and could be appealed.

"We have learned historically that right-wing extremism needs to stop," the statement concluded.

JD Vance met Weidel in Munich nine days before the election and delivered support for the AFD at the Munich Security Conference, saying "bureaucrats" were trying to destroy the party.

He wrote on X: "Together the West ripped off the walls of Berlin. It was rebuilt by the Soviet Union or the Russians, but by German institutions."

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and separated East and West Berlin for nearly 30 years during the Cold War.

The new designation has reignited calls to ban AFD next week before a vote in Parliament or federal parliament to confirm conservative leader Friedrich Merz as prime minister. He will lead the alliance with the Social Democratic Party of the Centre-Left (SPD).

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, expected to become vice president and finance minister, said the government would consider banning AFD despite no hasty decisions.

"They want a different country, they want to undermine our democracy. We have to take that very seriously," he told the Bild newspaper.