The ex-CDU politician Erika Steinbach (78) wants to join the AfD!
Steinbach justified the step on Twitter with the “deliberately destructive departure of Jörg Meuthen”. The decision by ex-party leader Meuthen (60) was “a slap in the face for many who stood behind him,” Steinbach stormed on Friday evening. “The AfD didn’t deserve that. Therefore, I will now apply for membership.”
The ex-Bundestag had already approached the increasingly right-wing extremist party years ago. In 2014 she described the AfD as a possible alliance partner for the CDU. After leaving the Union, Steinbach became chairwoman of the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation in 2018.
On Friday morning, Jörg Meuthen surprisingly announced his resignation as AfD chairman (2015-2022) and his exit from the increasingly right-wing extremist party. “Large parts of the party and with it a number of its leading representatives have opted for an increasingly radical course, not just linguistically uninhibited, for political positions and verbal gaffes that are driving the party into complete isolation and ever further to the political fringes,” said Meuthen at a press conference.
Why exactly does Meuthen leave the AfD?
Photo: POOL/REUTERS
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/joerg-meuthen-l–mit-den-afd-chefs-tino-chrupalla-mitte-und-alice-weidel-r– 87e9ac3441fd4808890b7bd14a3edf31-78977314/image/2.image.jpg”/> Jörg Meuthen (left) with AfD leaders Tino Chrupalla (middle) and Alice Weidel (right)Photo: POOL/REUTERS
► One reason for Meuthen’s departure: the party’s corona policy. In its criticism of the measures, the party had developed something “sect-like”, said Meuthen. He is likely to allude to some radical opponents of vaccination and conspiracy theorists within his own ranks. Meuthen himself announced in June last year that he had been vaccinated, which was criticized by some members.
While many members and MPs of the party strictly reject the vaccination, Meuthen only demanded: “People must be able to decide for themselves.”
At a party conference in November 2020, Meuthen also warned that the party was aligning itself with the sometimes radical “lateral thinker movement”.
Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild
” data-zoom-src=”https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/thueringens-afd-chef-bjoern-hoecke-ist-der-anfuehrer-des-official-lost-wing-13b316f9a8fb40df88af03f74dbd2e33-78977318/image/ 2.image.jpg”/> Thuringia’s AfD boss Björn Höcke is the leader of the officially dissolved wingPhoto: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild
► Another problem for Meuthen was the right-wing extremist wing within the party around the Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke (49). It was officially dissolved in 2020, but has since gained significant power in real terms. Meuthen therefore attacked the party sharply, in his opinion parts of the AfD were “not on the ground of the free-democratic basic order,” he told the WDR, NDR and ARD capital studio.
Meuthen continued: “The heart of the party today beats very far to the right. I clearly see totalitarian overtones there.”
► Meuthen found fewer and fewer well-known supporters in his party for his more moderate views. The leadership of the AfD wants to steer the party in a different direction. His former co-chairman Timo Chrupalla (46) and faction leader Alice Weidel (42) were considered opponents of Meuthens.
As early as autumn, he therefore announced that he no longer wanted to run for party chairmanship. In an interview with ARD, he named some of his opponents at the time: “Not to forget Chrupalla, Weidel, Gauland, Höcke, Brandner – they will be really happy that Meuthen is finally gone. Have they been working on it for a long time.”
Meuthen was elected party leader in 2015, along with Frauke Petry (46). She was considered moderate and could not enforce her line. That is why she left the party after the 2017 federal elections, criticizing her party colleagues’ “outlandish positions” at the time – apparently alluding to racist tones within the party.