Angela #Merkel's successor in the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union (#CDU) has urged the removal from the party of the country's former intelligence chief, as he would express far-right views.
Opinions promptly withdrawn. Hans-Georg #Maassen headed the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) from August 2012 until its removal last September. His BfV career was abruptly cut short following the so-called Chemnitz protests, a series of anti-immigration demonstrations, pogroms and riots that rocked the eastern German city of Chemnitz in August last year. Maassen gave an interview questioning the authenticity of the social media videos, which showed protesters making Nazi salutes and singing Hitler-era songs. The Head of the BfV said the videos may have been faked as part of a disinformation campaign aimed at stirring up racial tension in Germany. Following these statements he was fired from his post.
Following his dismissal from the BfV, Maassen joined the Werteunion (Values Union), an ultra-conservative group within the CDU, which campaigns for strict anti-immigration laws. Its leader, CDU politician Alexander Mitsch, argues that the CDU should not rule out a government alliance with the far-right alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD is a coalition of Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant and neo-Nazi groups that gained prominence since its inception in 2013 and currently has around 12 percent nationwide. Mitsch's opinion is contrary to the recent decision of the CDU which, during its annual conference, excluded, however, any collaboration with AfD and Die Linke, the main far-left party in Germany. Maassen also gave media interviews in which he criticized the CDU for "moving far to the left" under the leadership of Angela Merkel.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who took over from Angela Merkel at the helm of the CDU, and who is set to become the next German chancellor, gave an interview on Saturday, in which he dismissed Maassen's ideas by labeling them nonsense. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is currently defense minister, told Funke Medien news agency that she was pleased that Maassen was fired from the leadership of the BfV. He added that he saw nothing in Maassen's political views that linked him to the CDU. Kramp-Karrenbauer went on to say that he would not allow the CDU to be "radicalized from within" as the Republican Party of the United States had been radicalized by the Tea Party. This has been widely interpreted as a call for Maassen and other Werteunion supporters to resign or be expelled from the party.
On Sunday, however, Kramp-Karrenbauer spoke to the media again, this time with the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) news agency, stating that “neither during the interview [Funke Medien] nor elsewhere did I ask for an expulsion procedure from the party ”of Maassen and other members of Werteunion. He went on to say that “the CDU is a party with over 400.000 members. The fact that everyone has different opinions is what makes us interesting ”. Meanwhile, Maassen told DPA, "It's a mystery to me that he advised her to conjure up such thoughts," referring to Kramp-Karrenbauer's Saturday interview.
In September and October, the CDU will face the AfD and several other parties in regional elections to be held in three East German states, where the AfD is particularly strong. Many fear that Kramp-Karrenbauer's party will see its electoral power shrink with many of its voters flocking to the anti-immigration AfD.