Le Pens Rassemblement National no longer wants to collaborate with the AfD in a parliamentary group

France’s right-wing nationalists around Marine Le Pen reportedly no longer want to be in a group with the AfD in the EU Parliament after the European elections. The French newspapers “Libération”, “Le Monde” and the broadcaster France Info wrote this on Tuesday in response to the Rassemblement National. Both parties currently sit in the right-wing national ID group in the European Parliament.

According to broadcaster France Info, the background is “recent statements by the AfD”. According to reports, the decision follows an interview by the AfD’s top candidate in the European elections, Maximilian Krah, with the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” this weekend. In it he claimed that not all members of the SS were criminals. “I will never say that someone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal,” Krah said. When asked if the SS were war criminals, he replied: “There was certainly a high percentage of criminals, but not all of them were criminals.” The National Socialist SS guarded and managed, among other things, the concentration camps and was largely responsible for war crimes. It was declared a criminal organization during the Nuremberg Trials after the end of World War II.

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Disagreements between AfD and RN

There have been disagreements between the AfD and the RN for some time. After the revelations by media company Correctiv about a right-wing extremist meeting in Potsdam, Le Pen expressed clear criticism. “So I think that, if that is the case, we have a glaring difference of opinion with the AfD and that we should talk about major differences like this together and see if these differences have consequences for our ability to be in a faction that can be allies. , or not.” Krah then assured that the irritations would be resolved.

Some AfD politicians, as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values ​​Union, took part in the meeting in Potsdam on November 25. The former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, said he talked about “remigration” there. When right-wing extremists use the term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin must leave the country – even under duress.

RND/dpa