After the exclusion of top candidate Krah from the EU delegation, the AfD had hoped for a rapprochement with the ID group in the European Parliament. In vain, as it now turns out: the far-right camp rejects the readmission of the AfD.
The right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the EU Parliament does not want to accept the AfD back for the time being, despite the exclusion of the controversial lead candidate Maximilian Krah from its parliamentary delegation. The spokesman for AfD co-leader Alice Weidel confirmed a corresponding report in Politico magazine. The head of the French Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, and other ID representatives made this decision at a meeting in Brussels.
After Krah made trivializing comments about the National Socialist SS, the ID group in the European Parliament excluded the AfD group shortly before the European elections. In order to be able to rejoin the party, the newly elected AfD MPs decided by a majority on the Monday after the election not to include Krah in their delegation.
Krah had described this as a mistake and explained that it would not change the ID’s mind. The AfD should not allow a foreign party to dictate who it should run with, said Krah.
The far-right camp in the European Parliament is reorganizing itself after gains in the election: The right-wing populist Le Pen met on Wednesday for consultations with the Italian Lega leader Matteo Salvini and other representatives of the ID group in Brussels. According to preliminary election results, the ID group has 58 seats, nine more than last time.
Le Pen had already distanced herself from the AfD after the secret meeting in Potsdam on “remigration”. Nevertheless, the AfD achieved its best result to date in a European election on Sunday with 15.9 percent.