France, May 2 -- Germany's domestic intelligence agency has designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party a right-wing extremist group that threatens the country's democratic order.The move hands authorities more power to monitor the party just months after it took second place in national elections.

The AfD had been under investigation by theBfV domestic intelligence agency for several years, and several local chapters of the party had already been labelled extreme right-wing.

In a statement released this week, the BfV said it had decided to classify the entire party as extremist due to repeated efforts by the AfD to "undermine the free, democratic" order in Germany.

"The party's prevailing ethnically based concept of t...