Recent investigations implicating key AfD members in ties to Beijing and Moscow have unsettled the far-right party’s support base ahead of June’s European Parliament elections, casting doubt on its dedication to patriotism, one of its main talking points.
advertisementA series of scandals and espionage allegations have undermined Germany’s AfD party’s election campaign despite hopes that it will be a driving force for far-right parties in the next European Parliament.
The AfD had hoped to win a large number of seats by touting its image as the only true German patriots, but a series of blows to its legitimacy, including allegations that it had spied for China, have all but dashed those hopes.
Last month, an aide to Maximilian Kurler, the AfD’s top candidate in the European Parliament elections, was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing and both men’s parliamentary offices were searched.
Authorities in Berlin said the aide, who called himself Zhang G., was a “Chinese intelligence official.” German media have alleged that Mr Kula has personal ties to China as well as Russia.
Meanwhile the second name on the party’s list, Petr Bystron, is under investigation after denying allegations that he may have received funds from pro-Russian networks.
And the AfD’s troubles continued on Wednesday, when Belgian authorities searched the home and office of Mr Kler’s former parliamentary aide, Guillaume Pradura, as part of the “Russiagate” investigation into MEPs and their aides allegedly linked to a Kremlin disinformation network in Europe.
Experts say the series of scandals has rattled their supporters and called into question their dedication to the patriotic cause.
“This election campaign has undermined the AfD’s central claim that it is the only patriotic force in Germany,” said Johannes Hillier, a Berlin-based political consultant.
“But if they are conducting propaganda for Russia and have Chinese spies in their country, that is not patriotism but, in their own words, a betrayal of their country,” he added.
“Therefore, it already has to withstand the accusation of being a force for Germany or a force for foreign interests.”
The AfD banned him from campaigning after he told an Italian newspaper that “not all members” of the notorious SS unit during World War II, deeply involved in major war crimes including the Holocaust, were war criminals.
Preventing Klar from further damaging the AfD’s image was not enough to stop the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament from expelling the AfD from the coalition.
Other scandals have dealt further blows to the party’s legitimacy, including the trial of co-chairman Björn Hucke for using Nazi slogans and mass protests in February over allegations that the AfD was involved in a secret plot to deport tens of thousands of people, including naturalized German citizens.
But despite this, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel is trying to convince voters in the current AfD election campaign that they are in tune with the party’s cause and that the party’s supporters should pledge their loyalty to her as well.
“We are a patriotic party for the Fatherland, a patriotic party for Germany,” she shouted at a campaign event in Marl last weekend.
The fight for swing voters continues
While the AfD’s core supporters are unlikely to be shaken by the recent news, those who are still undecided about who to vote for may find these scandals to alienate the far-right party.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently highlighted the AfD’s ties to Russia and China and argued against voting for it.
“We have seen that German AfD politicians and leading candidates are in Russia’s pocket,” she said in Copenhagen in early May.
advertisement“They are selling their souls to Russian propaganda media and videos. A close associate of a far-right politician has been arrested for spying for China and providing information for the European Parliament,” von der Leyen added.
“The purpose of all this is to divide our society from within and what concerns me most is the deeper impact this will have on society,” she stressed.
The European elections are taking place in the context of not only an economic crisis but also a government crisis: the German government is divided and bickering over several issues, including the next budget, and its approval ratings are currently very low.
“This means that voters can also use the European elections to teach the government a lesson and show they are not happy with policies at a national level,” Hillier said.
“European elections are often used to teach national governments lessons rather than to vote on European issues and positions. And that is likely to be the scenario for the latest European elections in Germany.”
advertisementThe AfD is still set to make progress on the 11% of the vote it received in the 2019 European Parliament elections, but perhaps not as much as hoped.
Around 60.9 million German citizens are eligible to vote, and a further 4.1 million residents of other EU countries can decide whether to vote in Germany or in their home country.
