After the espionage allegations against an employee of the AfD’s top candidate Krah, Interior Minister Faeser is pushing for clarification and also sees Krah as responsible. He appears surprised – he found out about the arrest through the media.
The accusation is serious: an employee of Maximilian Krah, AfD politician and the party’s top candidate for the European elections, is said to have spied for the Chinese secret service. The AfD wants to wait for the investigation after the man’s arrest – Krah himself was surprised.
Krah said in a statement that he found out about his employee’s arrest from the press that morning. “I have no further information,” it said. The accusation of spying for another country is “a serious accusation,” explained the AfD politician, adding: “If the allegations prove to be true, this would result in the immediate termination of the employment relationship.”
The EU Parliament has already suspended the accused employee from duty, as the news agencies dpa and AFP unanimously report. “Following the decision of the German judicial authorities to arrest a person who is currently working as an accredited assistant (APA) in the European Parliament, and given the seriousness of the revelations, the Parliament has suspended the person in question with immediate effect,” the dpa quoted information as saying of the EU body. Parliament will now work with the relevant authorities and take further follow-up action if necessary.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was alarmed. She spoke of “extremely serious” allegations. “If it is confirmed that the European Parliament was spying for Chinese intelligence services, then it would be an attack from within on European democracy,” emphasized the SPD politician. The possible spying on the Chinese opposition also represents a serious accusation.
Faeser and Buschmann demand rapid clarification
Faeser pushed for a comprehensive investigation into the case. “All connections and backgrounds must be illuminated,” she demanded. And at the same time made it clear that “whoever employs such an employee” also bears part of the responsibility.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann also emphasized this ARD capital studioIf the accusation is confirmed, it “hits the heart of our democracy.” The FDP politician added:
Members of Parliament and their employees serve our democracy in a special way – there are allegations here that are diametrically opposed to this. We cannot tolerate this; harsh consequences must follow if the suspicion is confirmed.
Suspect is said to have passed on information from the EU Parliament
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the EU Parliament, David McAllister, spoke in rbb of an “outrageous, serious event”. “One of the AfD’s top candidate’s closest employees is being arrested here because he spied on opposition figures and dissidents in Germany for the Chinese services,” said the CDU politician. He called on the AfD to draw conclusions from the suspicion of espionage now.
The accused had worked for EU MP Krah since 2019. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of acting as an agent for a foreign secret service in a particularly serious case. Jian G. is said to have repeatedly passed on “information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence client.”
The AfD’s federal office said it was a very worrying report. However, since there is no further information about the case, the party will wait for the Federal Prosecutor General’s investigation.
Parties demand Krah’s resignation as EU representativeTop candidate
Due to the allegations against one of his employees, there are increasing calls from the ranks of German parties that Krah should give up his nomination as the top candidate for the European elections. “It is absolutely out of the question to have a top candidate who has to deal with such allegations,” said CDU parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei to the Rheinische Post.
The FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also joined the demand – and applied it not only to Krah, but also to Petr Bystron. The foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, who is running for the party in second place on the list for the European elections in June, is facing corruption allegations. He is said to have received money from the Russian propaganda platform “Voice of Europe”. From Strack-Zimmermann’s point of view, both AfD politicians should resign their candidacy “instead of further damaging our country.”
SPD parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese also expressed criticism in the Rheinische Post: “First the allegations of greasy money payments from the Kremlin, now suspected espionage for China.” The AfD is sinking into the chaos of allegations of betrayal of secrets and criminal activities.
The Green party leader, Omid Nouripour, urged the short message service X for “clarification about the opaque relationships of their top candidate Krah with representatives of Russia and China.”
China disagrees Espionage accusation
China, however, clearly rejects the espionage allegations. The accusations were intended to “slander and suppress China” and were aimed at “destroying the atmosphere of cooperation between China and Europe,” said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.
Wang spoke of a “theory of the Chinese espionage threat in the European public” that is “often rehashed before and after high-level talks between China and Europe.” About a week ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to China for a two-day visit and met, among other things, with China’s head of state Xi Jinping for consultations.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang stressed that China has “always adhered to the principle of mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.” “The responsible employees in Germany” should “give up their Cold War mentality and no longer use the so-called espionage threat for political manipulation against China,” he demanded.
Lothar Lenz, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, April 23, 2024 10:51 a.m