Press reviews
The Krah scandal: “It is hardly likely that the AfD will lose its top European people”
Did AfD politician Maximilian Krah know about his employee’s espionage mission?
© Jean-Francois Badias / AP / DPA
China’s arm probably extends into the European Parliament. An employee of the AfD politician Maximilian Krah is said to have informed the Chinese secret service about EU decisions. The media agree: the AfD is a security risk.
“Lausitzer Rundschau”: “Maximilian Krah is threatening to ruin the AfD’s European election campaign before it has even officially begun. For the right, it is already a practiced game to defend itself against criticism and accusations from the media or authorities, no matter how well-founded and thoroughly compiled they are. They simply wallow in the role of victim. But the AfD has no chance, legally or politically, of espionage for what is still, formally, a communist superpower “As widespread as anti-Americanism is in the AfD, politicians from a party that considers itself incredibly patriotic cannot, with the best will in the world, explain that to their supporters.”
“Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”: “The AfD has been distorted beyond recognition in recent weeks. As a party that is not an alternative for Germany, but against Germany. That agitates so openly against liberal democracy and Western values that it not only has dubious contacts with autocrats and oligarchs tolerates, but promotes – and now also has a massive espionage case in their own ranks. The chairmen Chrupalla and Weidel are half-heartedly trying to limit the damage. They are acting in a haphazard and clueless way Federal Republic: one of useful idiots.”
“Ludwigsburg district newspaper”: “The AfD is now confronted with the ghosts that it itself has summoned. It has attracted figures who despise democracy in Germany and instead feel connected to dictatorships and oppressor regimes like those in Russia and Beijing. AfD people from Bavaria have as an ‘election observer’ in front of Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin’s cart, Bystron is said to have complained to Russian donors that he cannot pay with the large bills at the gas station, and Björn Höcke from Thuringia has to answer in court because he was the banned SA The polls show that voters are buying less and less of the AfD.”
“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”: “If the non-extremist part of the AfD were right that the party is morally superior to the establishment because it gathers true patriots with a clean slate, it should be easy to clear the air. In the lukewarm approach to Krah’s Hallodri course towards China and Russia instead shows the AfD’s double standards, if one can still talk about morality. The fact that they are now complaining that the government and parties are attacking them is a bad joke in view of the clubs that the AfD is using It’s her voters that she’s so depraved? Unfortunately, far too few of them know what they’re doing.”
Crisis management by the AfD leadership is noticeably weak
“The bell”: “We have to clarify and stop the influence of foreign states, say Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla about the Krah espionage case. He is now exercising restraint in the election campaign. Nothing more. When it comes to possible monetary payments, it was previously said that opinions would not be tolerated.” “In other words: If the allegations are confirmed, the only option would be to expel Krah and Bystron. However, it is unlikely that the AfD would have to cut off its top European leaders.”
“New Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “The crisis management of the AfD leadership is noticeably weak. Instead of showing a clear edge, Krah should no longer appear on stage at the party’s election campaign launch. Do Weidel and Chrupalla really want to hide the top candidate from the voters for weeks? Is this what leadership looks like? No , that is leadership weakness of a particular magnitude. Sticking with Krah will do serious damage to the party. With his xenophobic and misogynistic statements, Krah was already a ticking time bomb for the party. Now there is no alternative: the right-wing politician should declare his political withdrawal himself de facto resign as the leading candidate, even if the EU electoral list can hardly be changed.”
“Leipziger Volkszeitung”: “The AfD party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have managed to maneuver the problem bear Maximilian Krah into the poison cabinet with difficulty. Weidel and Chrupalla are now contesting the start of the European election campaign and probably most of the other dates without a visible top candidate. But the will and the consistency, It is not only Krah who is responsible for the misery, but the party leaders who did not prevent his candidacy have been around for a long time. His arrested employee had also been under suspicion for a long time. Chrupalla in particular supported his Saxon party colleague for power-tactical reasons, and Weidel did not prevent him either.”