Press
In 2019, the Animal Protection Party had trouble with an ex-NPD member. This time, things are set to be different after the European elections. The small party wants to give itself a completely new image.
Berlin – If you wanted, you could abbreviate it as PMUT, but that never caught on. The Human Environment Animal Protection Party is often simply called the Animal Protection Party. But it stands for more than that, says federal chairman Marcel Krohn one day after the European elections in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA. His party is one of the small parties that narrowly made it into parliament. What the goals are and how the party wants to distance itself from right-wing extremist animal rights activists:
Mr. Krohn, how satisfied are you with the result?
We ran an intensive election campaign and were polling at over two percent. We didn’t achieve that, so we’re rather disappointed. A second mandate would have been important.
Animal Protection Party wins mandate after European elections: “A lot can be achieved”
Now they are actually only getting one. Does this mean the party can act at all?
Yes, you can achieve a lot. Every MP has a budget for public relations and we can communicate our concerns to the outside world.
What are the concerns?
In our opinion, the EU Animal protection laws have been deliberately delayed. We will make demands with emphasis. One important issue is the intolerable conditions during animal transportthere must be improvements quickly.
Former Animal Protection Party candidate had NPD past
In 2019, there was a scandal surrounding your candidate Martin Buschmann because he had an NPD past. Have you examined your candidates more closely this time?
In theory, you can never be safe from something like this, but we made it a problem. It set us back a lot and dampened the motivation of many of our colleagues. But it also worked to our advantage.
Differentiation from right-wing animal rights activists: “We have a progressive left-wing profile”
Like that?
We were able to sharpen our profile considerably during the review. Today we have a progressive left-wing profile. We are certainly no longer of interest to conservative animal rights activists. But for progressive voters who want a party that not only cares about animal issues but also about environmental issues and supports a progressive migration policy, the Animal Protection Party is an alternative.
When you say “conservative animal rights activists”, do you also mean right-wing extremist circles that have at times mixed into the Animal Protection Party?
Yes, today they are active under the name “Animal Protection Here!” and we see it as a gathering place for right-wing forces. We want to clearly distance ourselves from that.
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