The AfD gathered in the East German city of Magdeburg on Friday, June 28th, for its annual party congress—and to decide its slate of candidates for the 2024 European elections amid internal discord over its stance on the war in Ukraine and the prospect of cooperating with the conservative CDU.
If current record polls continue, the AfD is expected to double its number of MEPs from 11, elected in 2019, to over 20 at next year’s EU elections as it benefits from the ruling traffic light coalition’s economic mismanagement of the German economy and a popular backlash against Berlin’s commitment to the war in Ukraine.
Despite left-wing protests conducted outside the congress, and near constant state surveillance, roughly 600 AfD delegates assembled in Magdeburg Friday morning to decide on at least 30 prospective candidates for a landmark European election that could see them become Germany’s largest party in the European Parliament.
Internal observers have noted a shift to the Right in the AfD’s rhetoric over the past year as the German state security apparatus has targeted both its youth wing and a radical faction within the party simply known as ‘Der Flügel’ (The Wing), led by Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke.
Many regard the AfD as ideologically divided along geographic lines, with members in the West known to be more moderate relative to more nationalistic and anti-NATO branches in former East Germany from where the party draws most of its electoral strength.
The current AfD delegation in Brussels has recently been plagued by discord over accusations of a recent turn to the hard right and personal animosity among MEPs, which directly led to the departure of senior AfD MEP Jörg Meuthen.
According to a report from the conservative Junge Freiheit magazine, particular interest at the Magdeburg congress will be over whether Saxony-based MEP Maximilian Krah will secure first place in the party’s list system for 2024.
Heavily disliked among the AfD top brass and ID parliamentary group, but popular among the party’s grassroots, Krah is currently the subject of a fraud investigation from EU investigators and is known for his criticism of NATO and conciliatory attitude towards Russia and even China.
Krah has repeatedly maintained that he is innocent and the target of an organised smear campaign for his anti-war views, but he has faced criticism from AfD colleagues over the suspicious activity of a Chinese parliamentary aide earlier this year.
Germany has arguably been hit hardest by energy sanctions against Russia as it hovers near a technical recession this year and faces the prospect of deindustrialisation. Many in the AfD argue that Berlin is too beholden to American and NATO war interests, a situation that jeopardises the country’s future. Moderates say they merely seek to ape the electoral success of the pro-Atlanticist Meloni government in Italy.
The AfD congress is expected to last until August 6th and is likely to air the regional and ideological differences the AfD reputedly holds as it enters the political mainstream in Germany. Many see the occasion as a potential coming-of-age moment for the populist party which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year but which has earned a negative reputation on the European right for infighting and lacking a coherent policy orientation.
