Far-right AfD invited back to Munich Security Conference in 2026

Politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will be allowed to attend a high-profile forum for debating international security policy in 2026 after being excluded from recent editions, a conference spokesman said on Sunday.

Invitations for the Munich Security Conference were recently sent to politicians from all parties represented in the German parliament, he told dpa, with the selection focussing on lawmakers serving on committees relevant to foreign and security policy.

The decision was taken by the conference's current chairman, Wolfgang Ischinger, in consultation with the conference's board of trustees.

The AfD, which is Germany's biggest opposition party, has mobilized voters with a hardline anti-immigration platform, while many of its members are seen as sympathetic to Russia.

In May, the populist party was decreed as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence service, a designation that inflamed debate about whether the party should be banned. The classification has since been put on hold pending a legal challenge.

AfD parliamentary co-leader Alice Weidel has not yet received an invitation, dpa has learned.

The spokesman said, however, that the invitation process was still ongoing and that the Munich Security Conference reserved the right to invite additional political figures from Germany and abroad.

The conference, regarded as one of the world’s leading forums on international security policy, will be held from February 13 to 15, 2026. Dozens of world leaders, as well as foreign and defence ministers, are expected to attend the annual event at Munich's Hotel Bayerischer Hof.