Status: 01/27/2022 1:28 p.m
The AfD won’t let go of the donation affair: a committee in the EU Parliament has therefore apparently recommended lifting the immunity of co-party leader Meuthen. This threatens him with criminal investigations.
For the co-head of the AfD and MEP Jörg Meuthen, the consequences of the donation affair are becoming more and more likely. On Wednesday evening, the responsible legal committee of the EU Parliament voted to lift his immunity. The news agency dpa and the Internet portal t-online reported unanimously.
Should the EU Parliament itself vote for the lifting of immunity, the way would be free for criminal investigations against Meuthen. As a rule, the plenum follows the recommendations of the committee.
Support came from Switzerland
At the beginning of 2019 it became known that in addition to the AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel and Guido Reil, who also sits in the EU Parliament for the party, Meuthen apparently also benefited from the donation scandal. He himself later admitted receiving support worth 90,000 euros from the Swiss advertising agency Goal AG during his 2016 election campaign.
The problem: party donations of more than 1000 euros from non-EU countries are prohibited in Germany.
Meuthen rejects allegations
According to Meuthen, however, it was not about money, but about services, such as the creation of flyers and posters. And they were financed by donations from several people – from German EU members with equal status. Meuthen emphasized that he had therefore done nothing illegal.
A statement that the AfD politician reiterated after the decision of the EU committee. He told t-online that it could even be “sensible and useful” if his immunity were lifted. Then the allegations against him would prove to be unfounded.
More than 130,000 euros for Weidel’s district association
AfD parliamentary group leader Weidel had come into focus in the context of the donation affair because around 132,000 euros had been transferred to her Baden-Württemberg district association in 2017 – also from two companies from Switzerland. The Bundestag therefore imposed a fine of 396,000 euros on the party at the end of 2020 for the ban on accepting anonymous donations.
In the meantime, all criminal proceedings against Weidel have been discontinued. Your party had repaid the sum received from Switzerland.