No political withdrawal

AfD top candidate Krah kicked out of delegation

The German AfD top candidate Maximilian Krah(Bild: APA/dpa/Robert Michael)

The controversial German AfD lead candidate Maximilian Krah has been kicked out of his delegation in the European Parliament (see video above). The politician announced this himself on Monday. Nevertheless, he "naturally" wants to enter the EU Parliament.

"I wish my newly elected fellow MEPs every success in their attempt to rejoin the ID Group without me. I think this is wrong and sends a devastating signal to our voters, especially our young voters," the politician wrote in a video on the X platform. However, he is convinced that the decision is not set in stone. "This is always a snapshot. It's not the end of the world, it's meaningless in parliamentary terms."

You can see Maximilian Krah's post here.

As reported , the right-wing populist Identity and Democracy (ID) parliamentary group recently expelled all AfD MPs. One of the reasons given for this was Krah's statements about the National Socialist SS (Schutzstaffel). The 47-year-old had said that not all members of the SS were criminals. Among other things, the SS guarded and administered the concentration camps and was responsible for war crimes.

Maximilian Krah(Bild: APA/dpa/Robert Michael)

Influence from Russia?
The German politician is also being investigated for allegations of influence peddling from Russia. A long-time employee of Krah was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

The AfD achieved its best result ever in a European election on Sunday. It came second in Germany behind the CDU/CSU. The ID group in the European Parliament, from which the party was kicked out, includes the FPÖ, the Italian Lega and Marine Le Pen's French RN party.