Cooperation excluded
Free voters are distancing themselves from the AfD
February 17, 2024, 7:08 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
At their party conference for the European elections, the Free Voters ruled out working with extremists, and explicitly with the AfD. Their former members should also not find a new political home with Bavaria. But they also insist on a strict asylum policy.
At their federal party conference for the European elections, the Free Voters distanced themselves from political extremism. 92 percent of the more than 440 members approved a motion in Bitburg that prohibits cooperation with the Alternative for Germany (AfD). A supplementary motion was unanimously approved, which is intended to exclude cooperation with extreme political forces on the left and right spectrum.
Federal Chairman Hubert Aiwanger explained that this has been the practice of the Free Voters for years. According to a statement, Bavaria’s economics minister said: “The clear demarcation against the AfD formulated in the application has been our line for years, for example we do not accept former members from there.” According to a party spokesman, the federal executive board made an incompatibility decision after the 2021 federal election. The demarcation of membership will now be placed on a “broader basis”.
The members also came to Bitburg to discuss and approve the European election program. The Free Voters are calling, among other things, for a common European border protection unit that “must be able” to monitor the entire EU external border. Asylum procedures should take place “primarily at the EU’s external borders within days”. Applicants must be accommodated “in decent housing developments near the EU’s external borders”.
The party is also in favor of “streamlining” agricultural law. Finally, the parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, Joachim Streit, was elected as one of the five deputies of federal chairman Aiwanger. Streit received 95 percent approval from voting members. The Free Voters have around 8,400 members nationwide.