Jörg Meuthen has been an MEP since the end of 2017.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The long-standing AfD chairman Jörg Meuthen is turning his back on the party. Meuthen confirmed to the German Press Agency on Friday that he would resign and leave the AfD. WDR, NDR and the ARD capital studio had previously reported. The 60-year-old wants to retain his mandate in the European Parliament.
“The heart of the party beats very far to the right today,” the broadcaster quoted Meuthen as justification. Parts of the AfD are “not on the ground of the free democratic basic order”. He sees “clearly totalitarian echoes” there. At best, he sees a future for the AfD as an East German regional party.
As party leader with his commitment to a different path, he failed. The AfD has developed something akin to a sect, especially when it comes to corona policy.
Meuthen has been one of two national spokespersons for the right-wing populist party since July 2015. He initially led the party with Frauke Petry, who left the party a good two years later.
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While the relationship between the two was considered tense, Meuthen got along well with the later co-chairman Alexander Gauland for a long time. The relationship between Meuthen and Tino Chrupalla, who is now the sole leader of the party, was difficult practically from the start. Then with Alexander Gauland and finally with Tino Chrupalla.
Meuthen proposals have not always found majorities recently
Meuthen had been at odds with his party for a long time. In the past two years, the economist has repeatedly advocated a more moderate course for the AfD. In doing so, he made enemies, especially in the right-wing movement around the Thuringian state chief Björn Höcke.
Most recently, there had not always been majorities for Meuthen’s proposals in the party executive. In August, for example, the attempt to apply for the expulsion of the North Rhine-Westphalian AfD Bundestag candidate Matthias Helferich failed.
Meuthen had recently come under pressure because of a party donation scandal. The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament has therefore voted to lift his immunity.
Meuthen has been an MEP and deputy chairman of the Identity and Democracy parliamentary group since the end of 2017. He told the ARD that he wanted to retain his mandate as a member of the European Parliament and that he would continue to be politically active in the future.
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