After the federal party conference
“AfD is clearly a right-wing extremist Höcke party”
The parliamentary group leader of the AfD in the Thuringian state parliament: Björn Höcke. Photo: Sebastian Kahnert/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The AfD party conference in Riesa ended in a dispute and thus with the first setback for the new leadership duo Weidel/Chrupalla. According to many, there was a secret winner: Björn Höcke.
According to Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD), Thuringia’s AfD leader and party right-wing extremist Björn Höcke will also seek power in the federal AfD.
“It’s only a matter of time before he completely dominates the party. Then he will reach for the presidency, »said Maier to the editorial network Germany.
Maier spoke of an internal party “overthrow in installments”. In Thuringia the process has already been completed. “The AfD is clearly a right-wing extremist Höcke party here.” The President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, also classifies Höcke as a right-wing extremist.
The AfD had elected a new leadership at a party conference at the weekend in Riesa: The 14-strong federal executive board is now led by Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel as dual leaders. None of the candidates desired by the moderate camp made it onto the governing body. Christina Baum, member of the Bundestag, who is one of Höcke’s supporters, is now represented there.
Party congress broke up in dispute
The limits of Weidel’s and Chrupalla’s power quickly became apparent in Riesa: Initiatives in which Höcke was involved received majorities or were so controversial that they were not finally dealt with. Höcke also repeatedly stepped up to the lectern at the party congress. According to the Thuringian Minister of the Interior, he drove the AfD leaders with his proposals at the meeting.
The party congress broke up on Sunday in a turbulent dispute over a resolution on foreign and European policy – Höcke had also campaigned for this. Among other things, it calls for a “consensual dissolution of the EU”. When it came to Russia, critics complained that the talk was not of war, but of the Ukraine conflict “completely trivializing”. Weidel and Chrupalla were only able to prevent a vote on the resolution with great difficulty. The party conference ended and the subject was adjourned.
“The new federal board was quickly confronted with reality and faces the same task as the old one: to prevent radicalization and chaos. The forces that operate this must not get the upper hand, »said Bundestag member Beatrix von Storch, who was also deputy party leader until the party conference, on Monday of the German Press Agency.
Höcke’s influence increased again
Joachim Paul, member of the state parliament in Rhineland-Palatinate and since Riesa also no longer on the AfD federal executive board, told the dpa that skeptics, critics and supporters of Höcke agreed that his influence had grown again. “The western associations once again presented themselves for the most part unsorted and overwhelmed to successfully contribute in terms of content and personnel in accordance with their interests.” The question is how Höcke will deal with the growing influence in the medium and long term.
There were already a few direct and indirect answers at the party conference. Höcke campaigned for a change in the party statutes, according to which the AfD can also be led by a single leader in the future. The request was successful. But he then also advocated leaving it at the dual leadership for the time being and only determining a single leadership “next time”. The current management duo Weidel/Chrupalla has been elected for two years.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Thuringian AfD leader answered in the affirmative whether he sometimes thought about the party chairmanship, but accused the media of having made him “the devil of the nation”. “If I were to take the lead now, I would also split the party in a way. And I do not want that.” Maybe in a few years it will be time. “Until then, I’m in good hands in Thuringia.”