2023-07-30 15:11:00
Without exception, the AfD has occupied the top positions on its list of candidates for the European elections with politicians who want to turn Europe into a “fortress” once morest migrants. We need this “to protect our homeland, and we are doing that together with our European partners,” said co-party leader Alice Weidel on Saturday at the European election meeting of the right-wing populists in Magdeburg.
Several applicants named Viktor Orban, the right-wing populist Hungarian prime minister, as a role model. The Baden-Württemberg member of the Bundestag Marc Jongen prevailed in the competition for sixth place on Sunday. He justified his desire to move to the European Parliament by saying that he was drawn “to the hot zone of the Kulturkampf”. Jongen said Orban wants to bring order to Europe. That’s not extremist.
Krah suspended for three months
The Saxon MEP Maximilian Krah was chosen as the top candidate with 65.7 percent approval. His candidacy was also supported by the party’s right-wing camp. Against Krah, who has been a member of the federal executive board of the AfD since 2022, Andreas Otti from Berlin, who is also largely unknown within the party, competed. He received 25.2 percent of the votes. 9.1 percent of the delegates voted once morest both candidates.
Krah is controversial in the AfD. There was a lot of trouble regarding him in the EU Parliament. The right-wing parliamentary group Identity and Democracy (ID), to which the FPÖ also belongs, had suspended him for three months at the beginning of the year. It was regarding the allegation that Krah should have manipulated the award of a PR contract for the parliamentary group. His membership in the group had already been suspended for several months in 2022. At the time, he was accused of not supporting Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National party in the French presidential campaign, but publicly supporting the party of right-wing extremist Éric Zemmour.
Bavarian candidate warned of “globalists”
Krah accused his opponents within the party of waging an anonymous smear campaign once morest him for months. The lawyer has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019. Until 2016 he was a member of the CDU. In 2022 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of Lord Mayor in Dresden.
The Bavarian member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron secured second place. In his application speech, he railed once morest “globalists” and warned of an alleged impending abolition of cash. He said: “The worst, the migrant quotas, the forced allocation of migrants, that’s an attack on everything we hold dear, our culture, our religion, yes, our homeland.”
With a similar tonality, the Thuringian member of the state parliament, René Aust, came third on the list. He was proposed as a candidate by Björn Höcke, the chairman of the Thuringian state association, which is classified as a right-wing extremist movement. Aust said European civilization was threatened by “mass immigration”. He received 67.8 percent approval.
Against the EU and “multiculturalism”
The rest of the installation process turned out to be tough. Several times the applicants did not receive the required majority, so that several ballots were necessary for individual places. MEP Christine Anderson secured fourth place. She spoke out in favor of Germany leaving the European Union immediately. Fifth place went to Alexander Jungbluth from Rhineland-Palatinate, who railed once morest “multiculturalism”.
The AfD federal board has called for the goal of electing at least 30 candidates. The European election assembly should be interrupted on Sunday evening. The list of candidates is to be continued in the Saxony-Anhalt state capital next Friday. The election program should only be decided following the list has been drawn up.
NATO issue
The program might possibly only be discussed at an additional meeting, which would have to take place in January at the latest. Only then will it be clear whether the AfD will start this time with the demand to radically reform the European Union so that more decisions are made nationally once more. However, the “Dexit” camp, which advocates Germany’s exit from the EU, might also prevail. Another point of contention is likely to be the attitude towards NATO.
The alliance “Solidarisches Magdeburg” protested once morest the AfD assembly on Saturday. A demonstration with several hundred participants formed in Magdeburg. In the end, according to the police, up to 2,000 demonstrators gathered. They marched in the direction of the exhibition center and carried banners with slogans such as “Stand back! Solidarity once morest the right-wing agitation of the AfD”. “Everything remained peaceful,” said a police spokesman.
Höcke wants a new European confederation
On the fringes of the meeting, Höcke called for the abolition of the European Union in its current form. “There are many reasons to reject the EU, it doesn’t bring Europe any further,” he said in the phoenix interview. “This EU must die so that the real Europe can live.” Höcke advocated a new European confederation of states.
The German Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann (FDP), commented on this on Twitter: “You may think that’s inappropriate. But as a citizen, I get sick when I hear such nonsense.” Anyone who wants to destroy instead of build up is up to no good. CSU General Secretary Martin Huber said: “The AfD is not an alternative, but a danger for Germany.” She presents herself as the mouthpiece of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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