01/20/2024 – 19:45
Werteunion, an ultra-conservative right-wing group, decides to become a party, in time to participate in the next regional elections. Leader will be former head of German intelligence, center of anti-immigrant scandal. Germany is closer to gaining a new right-wing party. Members of the ultra-conservative group Werteunion (union of values, in German) decided this Saturday (20/01), at a meeting in Erfurt, to establish themselves as a new political party.
Hans-Georg Maassen, the former head of the German intelligence agency who was removed from his post following a national scandal, was chosen to lead Werteunion in these efforts. His task, according to the group, will be to “initiate the founding of a liberal conservative party”.
Maassen – a long-time member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), although the party has begun formalities to expel him – has labeled Werteunion “Union 1.0”. The CDU and its Bavarian sister party, CSU, are collectively called the “Union”.
Werteunion was created in 2017 as an ultra-conservative wing of the CDU, owned by former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, the group's members claimed they represented the “core essence” of the Christian Democratic party.
They further accused the then head of government of abandoning her party's conservative values by allowing more than 1 million migrants, largely refugees from war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, to enter Germany.
The group has more than 4,000 members and is approaching 6,000, Der Spiegel magazine reported, citing deputy federal leader Hans Pistner.
A Werteunion spokesman said several hundred members attended Saturday's meeting, which was closed to the public. According to him, the majority voted in favor of transferring the right to use the Werteunion name to the party.
Pivot of scandals
Maassen, 61, was forced to step down as chairman of Germany's Constitutional Protection Office (BfV) in 2018 after six years in the role. He became the center of a national scandal after making statements downplaying xenophobic protests and far-right violence in Chemnitz, in the east of the country.
That year, the city in Saxony was the scene of a series of violent anti-immigrant protests after a 35-year-old German man was stabbed and killed during a fight. The suspects in the crime were asylum seekers from Syria and Iraq.
After the death, far-right supporters, neo-Nazis and critics of Chancellor Merkel's refugee policy took to the streets of Chemnitz, and xenophobic attacks were recorded.
Maassen was also at the center of another scandal, following revelations that he had passed information from his agency's annual report, before publication, to the ultra-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Second new German party of 2024
If the plan comes to fruition, Werteunion will be the second new party founded in Germany in 2024. Sahra Wagenknecht, a former politician from the Left party, created a “left-conservative” party this month.
Maassen and Wagenknecht's idea is that their parties can now participate in three regional elections in the country, in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in September this year. The three states are in eastern Germany, where traditional centrist parties have faced more difficulties than at the national level.
“The party could already compete in state elections in eastern Germany and would work with all parties (…) that are ready for political change in Germany,” said Maassen, not ruling out cooperation with the ultra-right AfD.
The anti-immigration party leads electoral polls in all three states. Nationally, the AfD is the second largest party in the polls, with around 23% support, behind only the CDU.
Secret ultra-right meeting
Werteunion has come to public attention in recent weeks following news that some of its members had participated in a secret meeting between members of the AfD and neo-Nazis to discuss a plan to deport millions of foreigners from Germany, including asylum seekers, immigrants and those with German citizenship who have not integrated into the country.
The encounter sparked outrage across the country when it came to light ten days ago. Investigative journalism website Correctiv reported that during the meeting, so-called “remigration” was discussed, a term often used in far-right circles as a euphemism for the expulsion of immigrants and minorities, including naturalized Germans.
Werteunion confirmed that two of its members were at the meeting, but claimed that they participated “as private guests and not as Werteunion representatives”.
ek (DPA, Reuters, AFP, AP)
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