The European Parliament’s hard-right Identity and Democracy Group (ID) has expelled Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) delegation.
ID’s decision Thursday came a day after the AfD banned its leader, Maximilian Krah, from campaign events.
Krah is being investigated for his ties to Russia and China after one of his aides was arrested on accusations of spying for China.
In addition, he said in an interview published in an Italian newspaper that he wouldn’t say “that anyone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal.” He was referring to the much-feared Nazi Schutzstaffel, the black-uniformed elite guards of Nazi Germany.
Krah’s SS statement along with other behaviors were too much for some other far-right groups.
ID said in a statement that it “no longer wants to be associated with the incidents involving Maximilian Krah” and that AfD was excluded “with immediate effect.”
Reuters reported that it had seen a letter from the AfD party to ID, requesting that the parliament group expel only Krah instead of the entire group. In the letter, AfD blamed Krah’s actions on his “personality,” according to Reuters.
The far-right delegations in the European Parliament are divided into several groups, but the two main groups are the European Conservatives and Reformists led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Rassemblement National (RN) led by Marine Le Pen of France.
On Tuesday, RN said it would not sit with AfD any longer in Brussels, where the European Parliament is based.
Jean-Paul Garraud, a French RN lawmaker, said Krah’s remarks were “inadmissible.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, however, warned against being impressed by one far-right group’s action against another.
“Different name, but all the same,” she said.
“This really is the end of the road of a journey of radicalization for the AfD, which has become too radical to stomach even for that most far-right fringe of the European political spectrum,” Nicolai von Ondarza, of the German Institute for International and Security, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Political analysts, however, have predicted that nationalist and Eurosceptic parties will win record numbers of votes in next month’s election.
While AfD has banned Krah from any appearances at events for the upcoming EU election, his name will remain on the ballot because it is reportedly too late to remove it.
Krah remains the party’s lead candidate, and AfD leaders say they remain “optimistic” about election results.
