German far-right mulls demanding resignation of lead candidate

4 months ago 15

The far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) will seek ways to calm things down on Wednesday (22 May) after their strongest EU partner, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, announced it will end its cooperation in the European Parliament.

The announcement was triggered by a controversial comment of the AfD’s lead candidate Maximilian Krah, who downplayed the membership of Germans in the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Third Reich.

Krah stated in an interview with La Repubblica that he would never say “that anyone who wore an [SS Schutzstaffel] uniform was automatically a criminal.”

According to him, fault must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

When asked about a comment, his office did not back down on Krah’s statement, arguing that the German author, Günter Grass, once also was a member of the SS.

However, due to that statement, support for his position as lead candidate within the AfD is faltering. The party leadership will convene on Wednesday morning to discuss the next steps, with a statement expected during the day.

According to party sources, Krah’s mandate within the AfD delegation is on the line. While the election list can no longer be changed, the party is currently pondering other options to deal with the situation.

Among the immediate steps that will be discussed is urging Krah to renounce his upcoming mandate.

Meanwhile, following a series of clashes between the two parties, the far-right French Rassemblement National (RN) announced on Monday to cease their cooperation in the European Parliament, French newspaper Libération first reported.

The far-right parliamentary group Identity & Democracy (ID) in the European Parliament is dominated by both Germany’s far-right AfD and France’s Rassemblement National.

But Krah’s latest comments were the last straw for Le Pen’s RN.

Parting ways from their German partners would mean that the ID, as it stands right now, would miss out on roughly 16 seats that the AfD is expected to win according to latest projections by Europe Elects.

A problematic past

Krah has had a problematic relationship with his French colleagues in the past.

Not only did he hire a French colleague who was outed by the RN due to antisemitism, but the far-right politician also supported Le Pen’s direct competitor, the hard-right party of Éric Zemmour, in the last presidential elections, causing him to be temporarily suspended from the ID.

While the recent troubles between the two far-right powerhouses in Europe did not involve Krah until now, he is currently being investigated for allegedly taking bribes from Russia and China.

In addition, a now former assistant of Krah, was arrested in Germany for allegedly working for Chinese intelligence, using his access in the European Parliament.

In these instances, his party leadership decided to stand behind him.

“I am and will remain the leading candidate,” Krah said after having to explain himself to the party’s leaders.

Fruitless attempts at reconciliation

However, the pressure is mounting on the German far-right and their frontrunner for the EU campaign, while the party is about to lose one of their strongest partners in the European Parliament.

Close association with the AfD and their increasing far-right extremism tendencies is becoming more and more dangerous for Marine Le Pen’s ambitions to become the next French president.

The rift between the two major far-right players became especially apparent after an investigative report revealed that AfD members supported the idea of “remigrating” German citizens with migration backgrounds. Causing Le Pen to question their collaboration over the incident back in January.

Various attempts by the AfD, including a secretive meeting between both parties’ leaders, to appease their French counterpart in this regard were not able to prevent the rift. Back in February, several ID party sources told Euractiv that the relationship between RN and AfD has been damaged so severely that their future cooperation is highly questionable.

The rift between the two could spell the end for the ID, their common parliamentary group, or at least the membership of said group for one of the parties, the sources added.