Ex-President for the Protection of the Constitution
“Clear dividing line”: CDU wants to exclude Maaßen
Does not want to leave the CDU voluntarily: Hans-Georg Maassen. photo
© Martin Schutt/dpa
The CDU leadership sets the course to get rid of its member Maassen. After various criticized statements, the party wants a clear border to the far right – and probably a longer struggle.
The CDU leadership is taking action in the conflict with the former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, and wants to expel him from the party. The federal board decided unanimously to initiate a procedure and revoked Maassen’s membership rights with immediate effect.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called the decision “inevitable” and also referred to recent statements by the 60-year-old that had no place in the CDU due to the use of language and the ideas behind it. A district party court in Thuringia is now initially responsible for the exclusion process. A long, difficult argument is expected.
The CDU leadership sealed the action against Maassen, as Merz emphasized. The focus of the committee meetings was “of course the joy about the Berlin election result,” he said, referring to the victory of the capital’s CDU on Sunday. The decision on Maaßen was then made “without abstentions and without dissenting votes”. And the entire discussion, including the technical presentation of the legal situation, lasted “less than ten minutes”.
Merz: “Conservative – but not radical right”
Merz left no doubt about the political signal: “The clear dividing line was drawn today.” The party will thank this decision “to a large extent”. And it will become clear to the population: “We are conservative, we are liberal, we are Christian-social – but we are not right-wing extremists, and we are not approaching the AfD, at any point. And that is why the “fire wall” holds. right here.”
The exclusion decision had recently become apparent. Maassen did not comply with a request from the party leadership to resign himself. At the end of January, the CDU leadership accused him of using “language from the milieu of anti-Semites and conspiracy ideologues to ethnic expressions”. It was about several statements by Maassen that had triggered criticism. In an interview, for example, he spoke of “red-green racial theory”.
Maassen criticizes “character assassination campaign”
Maassen had previously rejected all allegations in a statement – combined with counterattacks: “The political aim of the smear and character assassination campaign against me and the party expulsion procedure is obviously to erect a “fire wall” in the CDU against all those who support the left-wing do not want to support the green course of the party leadership”. Maassen suggested issuing a warning, “which I would be willing to accept in principle, depending on the progress of the proceedings”.
In the CDU headquarters, however, the 26-page brief did not help to relax – quite the opposite. Maassen expressed in the letter “that he himself admits that he has crossed borders,” said General Secretary Mario Czaja. “Otherwise he would not have offered his own regulatory measures for himself.” Treasurer Julia Klöckner called it “highly problematic” how Maaßen always went a few centimeters further with the spectrum of his statements towards right-wing extremist positions. “Anyone who talks about racial theory, that’s no coincidence.” That’s a pity for the CDU.
party exclusion difficult
The decision from Berlin should be properly delivered to Maassen. He was then no longer a member of the CDU, explained Merz. It is assumed that Maassen will not accept the decision. “That may be so.” First instance is the district party court in Thuringia.
However, the process could possibly drag on for years. Because party exclusions are considered difficult, the requirements for this are high. Several attempts were needed in the SPD to throw Thilo Sarrazin out of the party. And until it succeeded, there were still a number of controversies. The CDU remembers the former member of the Bundestag Martin Hohmann, who was expelled from the Hesse CDU in 2004 because of a speech criticized as anti-Semitic. The Federal Party Court confirmed that. In general, those affected by exclusion proceedings can also go to ordinary courts.
The long-time party member Maaßen ran unsuccessfully as a direct candidate for the CDU in Thuringia in the 2021 federal election. He has no office and no functions in the party. On the subject of the Union of Values, the Federal Executive Committee now expressed a “political disapproval”: Anyone who is a CDU member cannot be in the Union of Values at the same time. Formally speaking, this is not a decision on incompatibility that, according to the CDU, a party conference would have to make.