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The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.
© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa/archive image
The meeting of radical right-wing circles with people from the AfD and the CDU has been a concern for politics in Saxony-Anhalt for days.
There was now a detailed debate about this in Parliament.
How do the MPs position themselves?
Magdeburg - After the well-known meeting of radical right-wing circles in Potsdam, the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt held an emotional discussion about the meaning and consequences.
The CDU, SPD, FDP, Left and Greens clearly criticized the AfD in the debate on Thursday.
The media company Correctiv made public a meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th in Potsdam, in which AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Values Union took part.
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) warned of the increasing dangers of right-wing extremism.
“Our free society and our democracy are challenged,” said the head of government.
Respect for democratic norms and institutions is dwindling, says Haseloff.
What is needed, among other things, is an increased engagement with German history.
This could make you more alert to threats.
The meeting in Potsdam caused a stir; a former head of the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, was also there in November.
The Saxony-Anhalt AfD co-parliamentary group leader Ulrich Siegmund confirmed his participation, but stated that he was at the meeting as a private person.
In the state parliament, Siegmund is being voted out as chairman of the social committee responsible for work and integration.
Haseloff said that blatantly racist fantasies were discussed in Potsdam.
“People from our midst are stigmatized, excluded and their organized expulsion from Germany is being discussed.” What was negotiated there is reminiscent of the darkest times in German history.
The AfD distanced itself from the meeting and the theses propagated there “at best half-heartedly”.
Meetings and theses like those in Potsdam endangered democracy.
The vocabulary is “inhumane, cynical and disgusting,” said Haseloff.
AfD co-parliamentary group leader Oliver Kirchner saw it completely differently; he spoke of an anti-AfD campaign in the course of reporting on the meeting in Potsdam.
The AfD's good poll numbers scared the other parties, said Kirchner.
CDU members were also present at the meeting.
“There was no talk of deportations, there was no talk of expulsion,” said Kirchner.
When asked, Sellner himself confirmed that he had discussed “remigration” at the meeting.
When right-wing extremists use this term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country - even under duress.
The other factions in the state parliament criticized the AfD.
SPD parliamentary group leader Katja Pähle said that the AfD was an integral part of a right-wing extremist formation that was axing the basic democratic order.
At the meeting, the deliberate plan to deport people who had a right to live in Germany was discussed.
This approach is undeniably unconstitutional, said Pähle.
FDP parliamentary group leader Andreas Silbersack said that there was no willingness to compromise on the Basic Law and asylum law.
The meeting in Potsdam solved the lethargy in society.
“The middle of society has woken up,” said Silbersack, referring to the protests by hundreds of thousands of people last weekend.
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Left-wing parliamentary group leader Eva von Angern emphasized in the direction of the right-wing populists: “The extent of their radicalism, their dangerousness is now public at the latest.” The AfD wants to “disenfranchise” people in Germany.
There must be an end to the hate speech against refugees.
The Greens also criticized the AfD in clear terms.
AfD and right-wing extremists presume to decide who still belongs to the German people and who doesn't, said parliamentary director Olaf Meister.
People would be sorted according to ethical and racial characteristics.
“This is fascism.”
CDU parliamentary group leader Guido Heuer said the AfD had no inhibitions about sitting down at a table with right-wing thought leaders.
“The fantasies about relocating migrants are outrageous.” dpa