section_path: Public profile/Relationship with other groups
section_name: Relationship with other groups
paragraph_text: Relationship with other groups
  
  Outside the Berlin hotel where the party held its inaugural meeting, it has been alleged that copies of Junge Freiheit, a weekly that is also popular with the far right, were being handed out. The Rheinische Post pointed out that some AfD members and supporters write for the conservative paper. There was also a protest outside the venue of the party's inaugural meeting by Andreas Storr, a National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) representative in the Landtag of Saxony, as the NPD sees AfD as a rival for Eurosceptic votes.
  
  In 2013, AfD party organizers sent out the message that they are not trying to attract right-wing radicals and toned down rhetoric on their Facebook page following media allegations that it too closely evoked the language of the far right. At that time, AfD checked applicants for membership to exclude far-right and former NPD members who support the anti-euro policy. The former party chairman Bernd Lucke stated that "he applause is coming from the wrong side", regarding praise his party gained from the NPD.
  
  Members of Alliance 90/Green Party have accused AfD of pandering to xenophobic and nationalistic sentiments. There have been altercations between AfD members and Green Youth members. Following the 2013 federal election, the anti-Islam German Freedom Party unilaterally pledged to support AfD in the 2014 elections and concentrate its efforts on local elections only. Bernd Lucke responded by saying that the German Freedom Party's support was unwanted and sent a letter to AfD party associations recommending a hiring freeze.
  
  Stern reported that among 396 AfD candidates for the 2017 Bundestag, 47 candidates did not distance themselves from right-wing extremism. Although a large proportion of the candidates are not openly racist, some relativize Germany's role in World War II or call for the recognition of a "Cult of Guilt". 30 candidates claimed to tolerate right-wing friends in their profile or were themselves members of groups associated with such people; others said that they mourned the German Reich or used their symbols.
  
  In 2018 Tino Chrupalla, the current co-leader of AfD, gave an interview to holocaust denier, antisemite and right-wing extremist Nikolai Nerling, which was uploaded to YouTube. It was staged as having occurred by chance, but an earlier shot in the video reveals Chrupalla waiting in the background. As such, the interview was cited in the 2019 Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution report on AfD as evidence of the party's "Connections to the framework of a so-called new right or right-wing populist 'resistance milieu'".
  
  On 24 June 2024 it was announced that two parliamentary groups consisting of members of the AfD and Die Heimat formerly the NPD, had been formed in the Brandenburg town of Lauchhammer and the district of Oberspreewald-Lausitz. In Lauchhammer, the joint parliamentary group will be represented in the town council under the name "AfDplus", while the "Heimat & Zukunft" parliamentary group has been formed in the district council of Oberspreewald-Lausitz. Thomas Gürtler from Die Heimat will play a leading role in both bodies. This development is seen as the first official coalition between AfD and the far-right party Die Heimat. The formation of the parliamentary groups was supported by statements made by AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla, who emphasised that there would be no "firewalls" to other parties at local level.