The espionage incident has so far had no impact on Maximilian Krah’s candidacy for the European elections. Now the AfD politician has made a mistake by trivializing the SS. He still remains the top candidate.
A good two weeks before the European elections, the AfD has broken with its top candidate Maximilian Krah. The federal executive board has banned Krah from appearing, a party spokesman announced on Wednesday, confirming a report in the “Bild” newspaper. Krah himself announced on Platform X that he would not make any further campaign appearances and would resign as a member of the federal executive board. The background to this is Krah’s controversial statements about the SS and a dispute that erupted with the French right-wing party Rassemblement National. But Krah has been under pressure for weeks.
It is unclear how the AfD’s European election campaign will continue. The election is on June 9 in Germany. The number two on the European list, Petr Bystron, is also not to stand again due to investigations by the public prosecutor’s office, according to the party leadership. Both candidates have been in the headlines for weeks because of possible connections to pro-Russian networks. According to media reports, public prosecutors are investigating possible financial payments to both politicians. In addition, one of Krah’s employees was arrested on suspicion of espionage 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 did not initially 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 committee 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.
Statement about the SS was Krah’s downfall
The bone of contention was an interview Krah gave to the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”. Krah had said that not all members of the SS were criminals. “I will never say that everyone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal,” Krah told the newspaper. When asked whether the SS were war criminals, he replied: “There was certainly a high percentage of criminals, but not all of them were criminals.” The National Socialist SS guarded and managed the concentration camps, among other things, 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.
RN politician Marine Le Pen told CNews and Europe 1: “The AfD is moving from one provocation to the next.” It is time to “break with this movement, which has no leadership and is clearly under the influence of radical groups in its ranks.” Le Pen thus criticized not only Krah, but also the AfD party leadership.
Maximilian Krah withdraws from the AfD federal executive board
According to a spokesman, the AfD federal executive board discussed Krah’s statements and the consequences for cooperation with Rassemblement National in a telephone conference on Wednesday morning. As a result, the party spokesman confirmed the ban on Krah appearing.
The candidate himself explained on a debate about me. The AfD must maintain its unity. For this reason, I will refrain from further election campaign appearances and will 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 canceled his participation in the AfD’s election campaign launch on April 27 in Donaueschingen. But he later resumed performing.
Le Pen and Meloni at a distance – Salvini apparently too
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 primarily referring 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.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
