Report: AfD man Krah’s office retrieved sensitive data from the EU Parliament

Things aren’t getting any quieter for AfD’s top European candidate Krah: According to a media report, his office had access to secret trade documents from the EU Parliament on several occasions. Meanwhile, the AfD is starting its European election campaign today without Krah.

According to a media report, the office of AfD politician Maximilian Krah has accessed secret documents on EU foreign trade several times in the European Parliament’s Trade Committee in recent years. As “Spiegel” reports, this was the result of an internal investigation into the use of the so-called Sharepoint, through which MPs have access to EU documents.

In EU parliamentary committees, the documents are reportedly classified into three levels of confidentiality. According to the evaluation of the committee administration, Krah’s office repeatedly requested documents that were classified as “sensitive” or “locked”. This would have included analyzes of the foreign trade strategies of partner states or documents on the course of trade negotiations.

Krah’s office did not request any papers that were stamped “confidential.”

Krah’s employees under Suspicion of espionage

The analysis does not reveal whether the AfD politician, who is the top candidate for his party’s European elections, personally or his assistants accessed the documents, according to “Spiegel”. Krah did not respond to a request.

On Monday, a close associate was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. He is accused of passing on information about negotiations in the EU Parliament and spying on Chinese opposition members in Germany.

Krah is missing from EUCampaign start

In the afternoon, the AfD will start its campaign for the European elections in June in Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg. Speeches are expected there from party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla as well as the Baden-Württemberg member of the Bundestag Marc Jongen.

However, given the fuss about possible connections to Russia and China, top candidate Krah will not be present. After a crisis discussion with Weidel and Chrupalla, he canceled his participation. Other appearances were also initially canceled, except for one date on May 1st in Krah’s hometown of Dresden. The party is also not planning to make campaign videos with him.

The AfD is running in the European elections on June 9th with a list of 35 candidates. Behind Krah in second place on the list is Bundestag member Petr Bystron, who is suspected of accepting money from Russia.