German far-right politician Maximilian Krah, who was excluded from his party’s EU campaign after making controversial statements about Germany’s Nazi past, will not take a seat in the European Parliament, lawmakers from his party decided on Monday.
Krah, who was actually the leading candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the EU elections, has also made headlines in recent weeks for alleged ties to pro-Russian networks and China.
His statement that not all members of the SS – a Nazi paramilitary group – were criminals led to his party being expelled from the right-wing Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament shortly before the election.
After the AfD came second in Germany with 15.9%, AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla met with newly elected AfD lawmakers in Berlin on Monday morning.
The meeting was to focus on the party’s future delegation to the EU Parliament and appoint a leader for the group.
The victory of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the AfD’s win in the EU elections have put further pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left coalition.
