Despite allegations of corruption, the AfD is sticking with its top EU candidates Krah and Bystron. A dispute broke out about this on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner” on Thursday evening, the likes of which you rarely see on a television talk show.
“This is a line that has been outlined in the AfD for years.” This is how “Spiegel” deputy editor-in-chief Melanie Amann begins her criticism of the AfD. And so an argument begins on Thursday evening on the ZDF talk show “Maybrit Illner” that you rarely see on television in this violent form.
It revolves around the AfD’s two top candidates for the European elections, Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron. Both are suspected of taking bribes. Krah is said to have received money from Russia and China, and Bystron from Russian sources. Two preliminary investigations by the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office are underway against Krah. In the Bystron case, a video has now allegedly emerged that is intended to substantiate suspicions against him. Legally, the matter is clear: As long as both politicians have not been proven guilty, they are considered innocent. But different laws apply in politics, says Melanie Amann during the dispute with AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla. “There is clear, hard evidence, so you have to ask yourself why you don’t proactively clarify this yourself or distance yourself from the two of them.”
The AfD is already distancing itself a little from its top EU candidates. Apparently they should stay out of the EU election campaign. At least Krah will not speak at the AfD’s election campaign launch on Saturday in Donaueschingen out of his own wish, says Chrupalla. Nobody has seen the incriminating video against Bystron yet, says Chrupalla correctly. “And there are currently no investigations taking place against the two of them.” The AfD leader justifies the behavior of the AfD leadership that the preliminary investigations have nothing to say at all. “If we as the party leadership have evidence and evidence, and you are welcome to present it to us, Ms. Amann, if you had and have it, then we will react accordingly.” Chrupalla announced what this reaction should look like on Sunday on the ARD talk show “Caren Miosga”: Then the two politicians would have to leave the AfD.
“Where would we be then?”
You’re not in a courtroom and there are people who are doing research, Amann Chruppalla rebukes – and means her colleagues who have been closely examining the involvement of the two AfD politicians in recent weeks. Chrupalla makes it clear: “But I don’t believe the mirror. Where would we get there?”
“First clarify what is going on in your party and what kind of money comes from Russian channels,” demands Amann. Chrupalla becomes visibly angry and claims that the alleged video does not exist, Amann insists that there is no desire to clarify within the AfD. If there were inquiries from the public prosecutor’s office, the AfD would help with the clarification, assures Chrupalla. “But both candidates, neither Mr. Bystron nor Mr. Krah, have ever been interviewed at all. By no one.”
“Not even from you,” Amann now claims, although even “Spiegel” reported on the AfD board’s interviews with the candidates. According to Chrupalla, Krah and Bystron informed the party leadership in writing that the allegations against them were baseless.
Other parties such as the CDU would have acted differently. Mr. Laschet, also one of the guests at Maybrit Illner, would have taken the MPs out of circulation in a similar case until the matter was clarified, says Amann. “And you don’t have this assumption of responsibility. You duck away. It doesn’t matter to you. You have an unparalleled freedom from pain. You have a Nibelungen loyalty to people who are presumably bought by Russia. You stand in front of them until these people are in the abyss are, and then you say, no one could have known that.”
It would be nice if withdrawing candidates from an electoral list were that easy. However, according to the European electoral regulations, the complete lists must be available by this Friday at 5:00 p.m. If they are changed afterwards, they can be declared invalid. That could mean the end of the AfD in the European elections on June 9th.
Criticism from within your own party
In the AfD, too, the party leadership’s adherence to the two top EU candidates is controversial. According to “Table Briefing”, the chairman of the Junge Alternative, Hannes Gnauck, complained at a parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday that the claim that the AfD makes politics for the people can no longer be maintained. Chrupalla denies this.
Amann doesn’t care. Never in German history has there been such hard evidence against candidates before an election, she says – forgetting the Uwe Barschel case in Schleswig-Holstein. “We’re in politics, it’s about the credibility of actors, of people who call themselves patriots. That’s an unparalleled indictment. They should take down the German flag and stick a Russian one on themselves,” says Amann.
Now Armin Laschet is also getting involved. He also complains about the behavior of the AfD’s top candidates: “There have never been such conditions in this country and to this extent of treason before.” Chrupalla doesn’t let this sit and points – now very angry – at EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was even investigated in connection with the EU vaccination deal with Pfizer in 2021. “No authority is investigating there,” interjects Amann. That’s wrong. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) began investigating in February.
Of course, the affair has nothing to do with treason – and neither does the involvement of the Bill Gates Foundation in Spiegel, which Chrupalla recently accused Melanie Amann of when she declared that the opinions of AfD MPs had been bought by Russia and China. Chrupalla wants to know who pays for the journalist’s opinion and to whom she is obliged.
Amann: “I serve my employer, and I serve my job as a journalist to inform people independently – also about the machinations of your party and about the payment flows from Russian channels to your MPs.”