Jörg Meuthen announced on Friday that he was giving up his duties and leaving the movement. The most radical wing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) can rub their hands.
With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibault
Like revolution, radicalization also devours its children. The history of the Alternative for Germany since its creation in 2013 is made up of upheavals, internal wars and putschs. After six and a half years at the head of the partyJörg Meuthen, who was increasingly in the minority, throws in the towel.
The 60-year-old relinquishes the leadership of the party and returns his membership card. He retains his mandate as a Member of the European Parliament. “ The heart of the party today beats very far to the right and is moving away from the foundations of the liberal and democratic order “said Jörg Meuthen, referring to” totalitarian hints within the AfD. An allusion to the positions taken by the most radical wing.
Victim of his former allies
A movement with which Jörg Meuthen willingly worked in the past and which he supported. The co-president of the party which had announced that he would not stand again, was the victim of his former allies. He wanted to make the AfD a more presentable and less extremist party that would not be reduced to provocations and political coups.
The movement, more than ever shaken by internal crises, is losing speed and threatened with even wider scrutiny by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.