IInformation about the meeting between right-wing extremists and AfD politicians in Potsdam is spreading widely and prompting prominent reactions from politicians. On Thursday, the Bundestag wants to deal with the meeting in the Potsdam Landhaus Adlon, which is said to have discussed the topic of “remigration” and the expulsion of people with a migrant background from Germany.
The meeting triggered demonstrations against right-wing extremism and also against the AfD in several German cities. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who also took part in one of the demonstrations, expressly welcomed the rallies. The SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil called for criticism of the AfD to be expressed publicly.
Participated as “private guests”.
The Union of Values, to which many CDU members belong, confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that two of its members took part in the meeting at the end of November last year. The message said that they were “two ladies” who were “also members of the Union of Values”. However, they were there as “invited private guests”, not as members of the Union of Values. Both were questioned about the meeting.
Social media projects on the topic of migration were “primarily” discussed at this event, and “remigration” was also discussed. However, the “mass repatriation of Germans with a migration background” was not the subject of the discussions, the Values Union said. Rather, only the “repatriation of migrants staying illegally in Germany, foreigners with a tolerated residence status and foreigners with the right to remain who have committed serious crimes” was discussed. The term “deportation” was not used.
The Union of Values also confirmed that Martin Sellner, the former head of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” in Austria, had given a lecture. The Union of Values, which is led by the former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, wants to decide at the weekend to found itself as a party with the same name.
Klingbeil calls Weidel a “right-wing extremist”
In Cologne on Tuesday evening, tens of thousands of people gathered for a demonstration against the AfD and marched through the city. A rally under the motto “The new brown is blue” has been announced for the weekend in Dortmund. A demonstration is also planned in Frankfurt on Saturday. Chancellor Scholz wrote on Platform – much more than those who want to divide.”
Klingbeil said of AfD leader Alice Weidel: “I think she is a right-wing extremist. She bears responsibility in a right-wing extremist party.” Roland Hartwig, an employee of Weidel, took part in the meeting in Potsdam last year. At the beginning of the week, his employment contract as her consultant was “terminated by mutual agreement”. Klingbeil then spoke of a “pawn sacrifice”.
The topic was also put on the agenda of the Bundestag Interior Committee for Wednesday afternoon. The traffic light factions, SPD, Greens and FDP, wanted to talk about “findings from the federal government and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution about meetings of the right-wing front in Potsdam to draw up plans for 'remigration'”. The Union submitted a similar request to change the agenda.
Like Weidel, the Union of Values complained that the reports on the meeting had not been sufficiently checked. The Correctiv research center initially reported on the meeting. It announced a staged representation of the meeting for Wednesday evening, which could be followed in the live stream.
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