Czech far-right splits with AfD, follows Le Pen

6 months ago 29

The Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy Party (SPD/ID) said on Wednesday (22 May) it would not share the same European political group with the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), following the same move by the French Rassemblement National.

The party’s leadership decided to do so because of statements made by AfD representatives about the role of Germans in Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Third Reich, party spokesperson Barbora Šťastná told the Czech News Agency on Wednesday.

The Czech far-right party, projected to score two seats in June’s EU elections, followed in the footsteps of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN), which announced on Monday it would cease cooperation with the AfD in the European Parliament.

“The Freedom and Direct Democracy presidency strongly distances itself from and condemns the controversial statements made by the leaders of the AfD movement, who in their statements defend the activities of former members of the SS,” Šťastná said.

The Czech party called such statements completely unacceptable. “The SPD fully supports and follows the steps announced by Marine Le Pen under the leadership of the RN in this matter,” she added, as quoted by the Czech News Agency.

The controversial comments were made by German MEP and AfD’s former lead candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, who downplayed the membership of Germans in the SS in an interview with La Repubblica, stating that he would never say “that anyone who wore an uniform was automatically a criminal”.

Krah, who also faced a scandal over suspected bribes, which involved the AfD’s number two candidate, Czech-born federal MP Petr Bystroň, was barred from any further campaign events amid mounting pressure to suspend his membership in AfD’s next EU delegation .

Krah, also damaged by the case of his long-time associate suspected of spying for China, agreed to withdraw from the campaign.

“I note that factual and nuanced statements from me are being misused as an excuse to damage our party. The last thing we need at the moment is a debate about me. The AfD must maintain its unity,” Krah posted on X on Wednesday.

“For this reason, I will refrain from further election campaign appearances with immediate effect and resign as a member of the Federal Executive Committee,” he said.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]