Germany's domestic spy agency BfV will temporarily refrain from classifying the Alternative for Germany party as an extremist organization, pending litigation by the AfD, a court in the western city of Cologne said on Thursday.
The agency would not publicly refer to the AfD as a "confirmed right-wing extremist movement" until the court has ruled on an AfD motion to issue a temporary injunction, the statement said.
The extremist classification announced last week allows the Cologne-based spy agency to step up monitoring of the AfD, for example, by recruiting informants and intercepting party communications.
The agency's 1,100-page report, which is not to be released to the public, found the AfD to be a racist and anti-Muslim organization.
The AfD says its designation is a politically motivated attempt to discredit and criminalize it.
AfD welcomes decision to pause 'extremist' classification
On Thursday, the AfD's leadership welcomed the decision by the BfV, which the court said did not acknowledge any legal obligation.
"This is a first important step towards our actual exoneration and thus countering the accusation of right-wing extremism," party leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said in a joint statement.