Nicolaus Fest: AfD delegation leader in the EU resigns

Eu Parliament
After an internal dispute: AfD delegation leader Nicolaus Fest resigns

After an internal dispute, AfD MEP Nicolaus Fest has resigned as head of the AfD delegation in the EU Parliament. “I no longer had confidence in the delegation,” the 60-year-old told the German Press Agency in Brussels on Wednesday. Joachim Kuhs is acting as head of the German delegation in the right-wing national ID parliamentary group.

This was preceded by a dispute in the AfD group about Fest’s allegations against his parliamentary group and party colleague Maximilian Krah. It was about the allegation that Krah should have manipulated the award of a PR contract for the parliamentary group. The head of the ID faction decided on Wednesday to exclude Krah from the faction for three months. In the AfD delegation, on the other hand, there was displeasure that Fest had pushed for Krah’s exclusion.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla welcomed Fest’s resignation on Wednesday. “I’m happy that the delegation has calmed down again.” Now the parliamentary group can prepare the European elections with the other partners. “So the step was logical and only consistent.”

Trouble in the AfD delegation about Krah’s membership

Fest has been in the European Parliament for the AfD since 2019. He had been head of the AfD deputies in the right-wing national parliamentary group Identity and Democracy (ID) for a good year. Krah, who is a member of the federal executive board of the AfD and a member of the Saxon state association, ran unsuccessfully for the office of mayor of Dresden last year.

The ID faction had suspended his membership in the 2022 faction for several months. At the time, he was accused of not supporting Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National party in the French presidential campaign, but publicly supporting the party of right-wing extremist Éric Zemmour.

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DPA