Bundestag: AfD protection politician Lucassen resigns | EUROtoday

The protection coverage spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Lucassen, has resigned from his place with speedy impact. His workplace confirmed this. Lucassen thereby anticipated a movement of no confidence within the protection working group of the AfD parliamentary group, which was speculated to be on the agenda on Tuesday.

Lucassen: Don’t scale back your possibilities in elections by personnel debates

In his letter of resignation to the parliamentary group government committee, which is accessible to the German Press Agency, Lucassen justified the step, amongst different issues, by saying that the possibilities of the AfD within the upcoming state elections, together with in Saxony-Anhalt, to not be diminished by personnel debates. “My actions are always about saving our country, which is in serious trouble.”

The Hessian AfD MP Jan Nolte, who says he was a soldier from 2008 to 2024 and in addition a member of the Defense Committee, will initially lead the parliamentary group’s protection working group on an interim foundation. The AfD parliamentary group as a complete would then must formally determine on the alternative of the group’s protection coverage positions.

Dispute with Höcke camp

Lucassen had not too long ago come underneath rising strain inside the get together. The backgrounds are advanced. The long-time Bundeswehr officer is a supporter of NATO and ties to the West and was one in every of three AfD politicians invited again to the Munich Security Conference this yr. He is strongly in favor of reinstating obligatory army service, as said within the AfD’s primary program, however that is at the moment unpopular within the AfD within the East, the place the AfD positions itself significantly as a peace get together.

According to Lucassen’s studying, it was made by supporters of the Thuringian AfD chief Björn Höcke pushed for his removing after he overtly criticized Höcke for a speech from the Bundestag lectern final yr. According to Lucassen’s accusation, Höcke got here to the conclusion “that Germany is no longer worth fighting for.” Both then mentioned publicly at X. There had been headlines and quite a lot of reporting concerning the open battle. The parliamentary group management due to this fact expressed disapproval in opposition to Lucassen.

The dispute goes far past the difficulty of conscription

At the weekend, in an extended publish on Bundestag. This was already interpreted as a farewell letter from the workplace.

The battle isn’t just about obligatory army service, however about extra basic questions concerning the route of the AfD with regard to the political system of the Federal Republic and the Bundeswehr. Lucassen throws an “anti-BRD sound” at his opponents from the Höcke camp. The re-establishment of the outdated GDR preventing idea. “People like me are then insulted by you as representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany establishment. As a representative of a state that is now the oldest on German soil,” he writes X.

Lucassen critic: Has nothing to do with Höcke

The Lucassen critics within the protection working group say that the initially deliberate movement of no confidence has nothing to do with Höcke. The AfD politician Heinrich Koch, who describes himself as a transparent transatlanticist, blamed Lucassen’s management model. Successor Nolte had introduced: “Neither the Defense Working Group nor the AfD is remotely controlled from Thuringia.” The causes for the criticism had nothing to do with Höcke, NATO or conscription, however relatively with the therapy of the members of the working group, who felt ignored and offended.

It was criticized, for instance, that Lucassen offered a place paper on the function of the Munich Security Conference Bundeswehr revealed that had not beforehand been agreed with colleagues within the working group.

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