The head of the right-wing ID faction in the European Parliament has requested the exclusion of all AfD MPs. This emerges from a document available to the German Press Agency, which was sent to top representatives of all ID member parties on Thursday.
The motion states that in view of “the series of incidents in which Mr Maximilian Krah and thus also the German delegation of the group were involved and in view of the fact that these incidents have damaged the cohesion and reputation of the group”, a decision should be made to terminate the membership of the members of the German delegation with immediate effect. The names of all nine AfD MEPs are listed.
The AfD wants to avoid that at all costs. The German delegation leader, Christine Anderson, therefore suggested on Thursday that the controversial MP Maximilian Krah be excluded from the parliamentary group. Anderson then emphasized in an email to the AfD federal executive committee that they had tried “in numerous discussions” with the ID faction leadership to prevent the AfD from being excluded from the ID faction.
“It became clear again that the German AfD delegation (or the AfD itself) is not the problem. However, our partners have a massive problem with Dr. Krah,” she wrote. One would have liked the party’s federal leadership to distance themselves more clearly from Krah. But they have now applied to the ID to exclude Krah from the parliamentary group. The exclusion of the entire AfD group from the parliamentary group in the European Parliament would result in financial damage amounting to millions.
The application will now be voted on in a written procedure that should run until 3 p.m. in the afternoon. According to information from the German Press Agency, the Italian Lega, among others, has already agreed. According to the ID rules, silence is also considered consent.
The background to the proposal from ID parliamentary group leader Marco Zanni is the numerous negative headlines that have appeared about the AfD in recent weeks. The party leadership banned its own top candidate Krah from appearing on Wednesday. The specific reason was Krah’s controversial statements about the SS. The 47-year-old Saxon is also under pressure because of the espionage affair involving an employee and because of his proximity to Russia and China. The number two on the AfD European list, Petr Bystron, will also no longer campaign for the time being following corruption investigations.
In addition to the Italian Lega, the ID faction in the European Parliament also includes Marine Le Pen’s French RN party and the Austrian FPÖ. Geert Wilders’ Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) is also an ID member. However, it has no representative in parliament.
Excluding the AfD MPs would be primarily symbolic, as Parliament will not meet again until after the European elections in two weeks. Then the factions may also reconstitute themselves.
Marine Le Pen’s French Rassemblement National has already terminated its cooperation with the AfD. RN party leader Jordan Bardella said on broadcaster TF1: “I think that the AfD, with whom we have worked in the European Parliament for five years, has crossed lines that are red lines for me.” After the election you will have new allies and will no longer sit on the side of the AfD.
Note: This article has been updated.
