At the beginning of May, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution(BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a "confirmed right-wing-extremist" party. The AfD is now challenging this decision in court. The BfV has announced that it will not use the extremism label until the court rules on the matter. The classification as right-wing-extremist has reignited debate in Germany about whether the AfD should be banned.

No other country in Europe is considering such a ban to contain the ascendant far right. In some countries, in fact, similar parties are part of the government or, in some cases, even lead it.

DW looks at where far-right parties stand in several European countries.

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Chancellor Christian Stocker, of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) does not consider Herbert Kickl's Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) right-wing-extremist. Austria's other political parties have not committed themselves to avoid cooperation with the FPÖ. The ÖVP has formed coalition governments with the FPÖ twice already, the first time back in 2000. This was seen as a scandal in the European Union at the time, and, for a few months, other EU member states kept their relations with the Austrian government to a minimum.

The FPÖ is relatively young in the history of Austria's parliament. The party was founded in 1955 by a former Nazi functionary and later softened its views.

Like the AfD, the FPÖ is critical of immigration, globalization and the European Union. However, the FPÖ appears more willing to compromise and appears less ideological, perhaps due to the number of times it has been part of government, including at the national level.

Last year, it won the parliamentary elections for the........

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