AfD's Krah to join German parliament despite controversial past
Ex-MEP and former lead candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the European elections Maximillian Krah will join Germany's new parliament, his spokesman confirmed to Euronews.
Krah made the headlines in 2024 after he resigned from the AfD's federal executive board shortly before the European elections over controversial comments to Italian media that people who wore the uniforms of the notorious World War II-era Nazi SS unit were not "automatically a criminal".
He tended his resignation upon pressure from other far-right parties including France's Rassemblement National (RN), Italy's Lega and the Danish People's Party (DF).
The AfD were then expelled from the now-dissolved Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament.
"I recognise that factual and nuanced statements from me are being misused as a pretext to damage our party," Krah said at the time in a post on X.
China espionage scandal still unresolved
The scandal was not the only one to hit Krah in the run-up to the European elections after one of his employees was arrested on suspicion of espionage for Beijing.
His assistant, named as Jian G, was apprehended by German authorities for "repeatedly passing on information" about the European Parliament to his "intelligence client" in China. Krah's offices in Brussels were subsequently raided.
In October, a woman working for a logistics service company at Leipzig/Halle airport was also arrested in Leipzig on suspicion of passing on information to Jian G.
In response to her arrest, Krah posted on X that "there is no connection between today's arrest and my work."
"The only reproach I make to myself in connection with my Chinese-born ex-employee is that I did not pay more attention," Krah said.
His spokesperson told Euronews that Jian G is now in custody, with a court set to decide on whether he is guilty.
The AfD came second in Germany's elections over the weekend with 20% of the vote, a result that will increase its share of seats in the Bundestag from 76 to 152.
After winning in his constituency of Chemnitzer Umland-Erzgebirgskreis II in Saxony, Krah is poised to sit alongside Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, who will be the AfD's new parliamentary group leaders.
Krah won a direct mandate with 44% of the vote, beating the Christian Democratic Union's candidate Sophie Pojar, who scored 27%.
The former MEP will join the parliamentary group alongside Matthias Helferich, who was elected to the Bundestag in 2021 but renounced his seat after courting controversy within the AfD for statements he made about Nazis.
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