A good two weeks before the European elections, the AfD is breaking with its top candidate Maximilian Krah. The federal executive board has imposed a ban on Krah appearing, a party spokesman said on Wednesday, confirming a report in the “Bild” newspaper. Krah himself stated on Platform The background is Krah’s controversial statements about the SS and a dispute that broke out with the French right-wing party Rassemblement National. But Krah has been under pressure for weeks.
It is unclear what will happen next with the AfD’s European election campaign. The election in Germany is on June 9th. According to the wishes of the party leadership, number two on the European list, Petr Bystron, will no longer appear due to public prosecutor’s investigations. Both candidates have been in the headlines for weeks because of possible connections to pro-Russian networks. According to media reports, public prosecutors are examining possible monetary payments to both politicians. In addition, one of Krah’s employees was arrested for suspected spying for China.
CSU General Secretary Martin Huber called on the AfD to persuade Krah to give up his seat in the European Parliament. “It is not enough that Krah is hidden during the election campaign. He would have to resign from all offices and give up his seat in the European Parliament,” he told the German Press Agency. Krah initially did not comment on his future in the European Parliament.
The AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla spoke on Wednesday in a joint statement after a telephone conference of the federal executive board of “massive damage to the party in the current election campaign.” Krah “provided the excuse” for this. The ban on appearances now applies to all election campaign events and other federal party events, as a spokesman confirmed. However, the official statement from the party leaders simply said that the majority of committee meetings welcomed the fact that Krah wanted to forego further appearances.
The stumbling block was Krah’s interview with the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”. Krah had said that not all members of the SS were criminals. “I will never say that anyone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal,” Krah told the newspaper. When asked whether the SS were war criminals, he replied: “There were certainly a high percentage of criminals, but not all of them were criminals.” The National Socialist SS guarded and managed, among other things, the concentration camps and was largely responsible for war crimes. At the Nuremberg Trials after the end of the Second World War it was declared a criminal organization.
After the interview, Rassemblement National announced that it no longer wanted to work in a group with the AfD in the European Parliament in the future. Both parties are currently sitting in the legal group ID. RN party leader Jordan Bardella explained his party’s decision on broadcaster TF1: “I think that the AfD, with whom we have worked together in the European Parliament for five years, has crossed lines that are red lines for me.” After the election, we will have new allies and will no longer be on the side of the AfD.
The RN politician Marine Le Pen told the channels CNews and Europe 1: “The AfD is moving from one provocation to the next.” It is time to “make a break with this movement that has no leadership and is clearly under the influence of radical groups in its ranks.” Le Pen not only criticized Krah, but also the AfD party leadership.
According to a spokesman, the AfD federal executive board held a telephone conference on Wednesday morning to discuss Krah’s statements and the consequences for cooperation with the Rassemblement National. As a result, the party spokesman confirmed the ban on Krah appearing.
The candidate himself stated on X: “You can never fall any lower than into God’s hands. I acknowledge that factual and differentiated statements of mine are being misused as a pretext to harm our party. The last thing we need at the moment is a debate about me. The AfD must maintain its unity. For this reason, I will refrain from further campaign appearances with immediate effect and resign as a member of the federal executive board.”
Krah comes from the Saxon AfD regional association. He is considered a confidant of the Thuringian AfD state leader Björn Höcke. According to media reports, public prosecutors are checking with Krah whether there should be an investigation into possible Chinese payments. According to critical party colleagues, the Saxon AfD politician has repeatedly attracted attention in the past with pro-Chinese statements and activities. In the Krahs case, the so-called preliminary investigations are being conducted by the Dresden public prosecutor’s office; in the Bystron case, there is a similar procedure in Munich. Both politicians assured the AfD leadership that they had not taken any money.
After a crisis meeting with Weidel and Chrupalla, Krah had already cancelled his participation in the AfD’s election campaign kick-off on April 27 in Donaueschingen. However, he later resumed his appearances.
Some right-wing parties in Europe have been arguing with the AfD for months. After the revelations by the media company Correctiv about a right-wing extremist meeting in Potsdam in January, Marine Le Pen expressed clear criticism. There was a crisis meeting with Weidel.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from the ultra-right Fratelli d’Italia distanced herself from the AfD at the beginning of the year. She spoke of “irreconcilable differences” and was referring primarily to the AfD’s relations with Russia. In Europe, the Fratelli do not belong to the ID, but to the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) party.
The Italian partner in the ID is the right-wing Lega of Matteo Salvini. The latter did not initially comment on Krah’s recent statements. However, the Italian news agency Ansa quoted the Lega delegation in the European Parliament on Tuesday evening as saying: “As always, Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen are perfectly coordinated and in agreement.”
Note: This post is continually updated.