Germany's far-right AfD seeks to downplay meeting with extremists

DPA
·2 min read
3
Bernd Baumann, Parliamentary Secretary of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group, sits at the beginning of the plenary session in the German Bundestag. According to its Parliamentary Secretary, Bernd Baumann, the AfD parliamentary group wants to talk internally about a meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam that has come to light. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have sought to downplay revelations that AfD leaders met secretly with radical extremists.

AfD lawmakers in parliament plan to discuss the revelations internally in the coming days, parliamentary group secretary Bernd Baumann told dpa on Tuesday ahead of a scheduled meeting of the group in Berlin.

The news outlet Correctiv revealed that several top AfD officials met with far-right figures in Potsdam, including Martin Sellner, the long-standing Austrian leader of the far-right extremist Identitarian movement.

Attendees at the Potsdam meeting allegedly discussed potential plans for widespread deportations of immigrants from Germany, among other things.

The report has prompted outrage in Germany and mass protests against the AfD in several cities over the past week.

The revelations are now scheduled to be debated in German parliament on Thursday following demands for answers from the AfD by centre-left lawmakers.

Rolf Mützenich, a Social Democrat (SPD), called it "very important" to get answers about what role AfD politicians played in the meeting.

Baumann, however, claimed that the public reaction to the meeting was exaggerated.

"This was not a secret meeting," Baumann said, but a "private appointment."

"Who is Mr Sellner?" he asked.

Sellner has told dpa that he spoke about "remigration" at the meeting, a term that is widely used in far-right circles as a euphemism for the forced expulsion of immigrants and minorities.

Among the attendees at the Potsdam meeting was Roland Hartwig, a prominent advisor and close confidant to AfD chairwoman Alice Weidel. According to a party spokesman, Hartwig's contract has now been terminated.

Members of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) also reportedly attended the Potsdam meeting.

Reports of the Potsdam meeting with extremists like Sellner are expected to further fuel debate on whether to seek a ban of the AfD as a threat to the country's democratic order.

Under German law, parliament can ask the country's Constitutional Court to consider outlawing a political party.