Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will be permitted to take part in the 2026 Munich Security Conference, marking the end of a two-year exclusion from the high-profile international security forum.
The AfD, which has surged to the top of opinion polls in Germany, was barred from the 2024 and 2025 conferences under the leadership of former chairman Christoph Heusgen. Heusgen previously justified the decision by saying he did not want to give legitimacy to what he described as a right-wing extremist party.
The conference’s interim chairman, Wolfgang Ischinger, confirmed that AfD representatives have now been invited to attend the 2026 event, scheduled for February. He said the Munich Security Conference is fundamentally a platform for dialogue and that a broad range of views, including controversial and opposing ones, should be represented.
Ischinger stressed that the decision does not mean the party will be given a prominent platform. AfD politicians will be allowed to attend, but none will appear on stage or take part in panel discussions. He also rejected claims that the move undermines Germany’s long-standing political “firewall” aimed at keeping the AfD out of government.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said she had not yet received a formal invitation.
The so-called firewall policy is supported by Germany’s mainstream parties and is intended to block cooperation with the AfD, despite the party’s rising popularity. Recent polling puts AfD support at around 26 percent nationwide.
The decision comes amid growing international scrutiny of how European democracies handle dissenting political voices. At the 2025 Munich Security Conference, US Vice President J.D. Vance criticised European governments for limiting alternative viewpoints, arguing that democracy requires openness and debate. Although he did not name the AfD directly, he said there should be “no room for firewalls” and later met with Weidel on the sidelines of the event.
Some European media outlets have suggested the ban was lifted partly to ease tensions with Washington and ensure strong US representation at the conference. Ischinger will remain interim chairman until former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg formally takes over leadership of the conference.
Why? I’m guessing its because their legitimacy, is somewhat compromised, if the most popular political party in Germany, isn’t seen to be participating.