The Union of Values in BW used to be one of the strongest regional associations with around 600 members. But at the moment the state association is more of a problem child for Federal President Maaßen.
At the conservative Union of Values in Baden-Württemberg, there were leadership disputes shortly before the party was founded. According to information from Südwestrundfunk (SWR), the federal leadership around ex-constitutional protection chief Hans-Georg Maaßen recently disempowered the Baden-Württemberg state executive board. But the ousted state chairman Marc Ehret doesn’t want to accept that.
The federal boss Maaßen had already informed the members in Baden-Württemberg in a circular email at the end of December about the removal of the state executive board. The Federal Executive Board had previously decided to disempower the State Executive Board without any dissenting votes and with three abstentions, Federal Treasurer Udo Kellmann told SWR. The reason given was that the relationship of trust with Ehret had been “seriously and permanently” destroyed. Kellmann emphasized: “That still applies today.” Ehret was voted out of the federal executive board a few months ago.
The sacked head of the country still sees himself in office
The former Stuttgart CDU local politician André Tezulas has been acting as acting state chief since the end of December. He told SWR that Maaßen had commissioned him at the end of December to prepare the upcoming elections for the state executive board as the “leader in the state association”. Unfortunately, Ehret does not want to accept the disempowerment. Behind closed doors, the Baden-Württemberg Union of Values says that Ehret is a hothead. It also fits that he does not want to accept his own dismissal.
In fact, Ehret defends himself against his disempowerment. When asked by SWR, the ousted state chief said he still sees himself in office. His supporters say the dismissal is based on a misunderstanding. The federal executive board has now also realized this and the state executive board can feel rehabilitated. However, it is clear that the regional association still has to sort itself out in view of the impending founding of the party.
Union of Values wants to do without a “firewall”.
The Union of Values, which claims to be close to the CDU, will soon become a party. The association decided this under its chairman Maaßen on January 20th in Erfurt. In contrast to the CDU, the newly founded party is not intended to be a party with a “firewall” and therefore “ready to talk in all political directions”. The AfD is not expressly excluded. Maaßen left the CDU a few days ago. The CDU/CSU accuses him of political radicalization and proximity to the AfD.
What is the Union of Values?
The right-wing conservative values union was founded in 2017 primarily by members of the Union in order to counter the pragmatic course of the federal CDU under then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) with a more conservative stance. However, according to information from Values Union circles, many CDU members gradually left the registered association. Unlike, for example, the Junge Union, the youth association of the CDU and CSU, the Values Union is not an association or special organization of the CDU. Now the Union of Values wants to launch a “conservative-liberal” party that will also take part in the state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September.
Former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution himself a case for domestic intelligence
On Wednesday it became known that Maaßen himself had become a case for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. His former agency stored data on his former president in the right-wing extremism information system. The authority he previously headed has now given him this in writing at the request of his lawyer. Maaßen is therefore considered an object of observation for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, reported the ARD magazine “Kontraste”.
One of the observations listed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the letter to Maaßen’s lawyer is, for example, that Maaßen initiated the measures against suspected members of the “Reich Citizens” association around Henry XIII. Prince Reuss described it as “disproportionate”. In addition, several of Maaßen’s statements on migration policy are listed.
The observation is criticized in the Baden-Württemberg Union of Values. Tezulas told SWR that it was about “discrediting those who think differently.” Ehret also defended the federal leader. Accusing Maaßen of having right-wing extremist views is a “piece from the cabinet of oddities.”
Union of Values organizes general meeting in Stuttgart
The regional association of the Values Union in Baden-Württemberg wants to meet on February 15th in Stuttgart for a general meeting and discuss further steps there. Tezulas said the main purpose of the meeting was to provide information and answer questions from members and interested parties.
The Union of Values in Baden-Württemberg used to have around 600 members, making it one of the largest state associations. But with the election of the then federal chairman Max Otte, the state board resigned and numerous members left the association. Eleven out of twelve board members accused Otte of moving closer to ethnic and nationalist values. Ehret alone remained in office at the time. Many members were particularly outraged that Otte was nominated by the AfD as a candidate for the office of Federal President at the beginning of 2022.
The CDU appears calm in the face of the new competition
The CDU in Baden-Württemberg is extremely relaxed about the planned founding of the new party. Many former members of the Union of Values have now left and are active in the CDU again, it was said. The course of CDU federal leader Friedrich Merz convinced many.
State managing director Tobias Vogt told SWR: “It is important to us to build bridges – in society and in our party. Therefore, all those who are committed to the CDU, our Christian view of humanity and our free democratic basic order are still welcome here. ” But Vogt also explained: “It looks different for those who march with the Maaßen troops. That is not compatible with our values.” That has nothing to do with the Union.
Broadcast on Thursday, February 1, 2024, 5:00 a.m., Good Morning Baden-Württemberg, SWR1 Baden-Württemberg
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