Pubblicato in: Devoluzione socialismo, Unione Europea

Germania. Mr Olaf Scholz, candidato cancelliere Spd, vuole riavvicinare Russia ed est Europa.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2021-08-15.

Berlino Porta Brandemburgo

Sulla base dei più recenti sondaggi la Cdu sarebbe attestata attorno al 23%, mentre Spd e Grüne attorno al 20%.

Le elezioni di settembre verificheranno la precisione di queste previsioni, ma un quadro che si delinea sarebbe un governo tra Spd, Grüne e Left.

Mr Olaf Scholz, candidato cancelliere Spd, delinea un suo possibile programma governativo.

* * * * * * *

«But a recent comeback in the polls would make it possible for Scholz’s SPD to form a government with the environmentalist Greens or the Left Party.»

«Like many of Germany’s other major parties, Scholz ruled out working with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — but said his ultimate goal would be to unseat Merkel’s conservatives.»

«”I want to lead the next government,” he said. “And it’s good that we have several options to build a government.”»

«German chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz calls for ‘a new policy’ toward eastern Europe and Russia»

«German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he would push for a new strategy toward dealing with Russia and other eastern European countries»

«We need a new policy toward the east that revitalizes the principle of the OSCE and CSCE, but as a principle of the European Union»

«He said there should be a return to the “mutual principles” for security and human rights in Europe agreed within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE and its former title as the CSCE) — the intergovernmental organization that enables dialogue between western and eastern countries in Europe.»

«If we want to ensure joint security in Europe, then it’s about the European Union and Russia»

«That’s why it’s imperative that we return to the rule of law. Might does not make right»

«Scholz’s comments also come amid heightened tensions between the EU and Belarus over human rights violations and amid ongoing dispute with EU-members Poland and Hungary over what Brussels has dubbed rule of law violations»

«With a growing number of people fleeing violence in Afghanistan, the question of asylum-seekers and migrants is once again in the spotlight in the run-up to Germany’s general election»

«Scholz said the focus should now shift to providing aid to the countries where they first arrive rather than committing to taking in a large number of people in Germany»

* * * * * * *

Questa intervista tratteggia le grandi linee operative.

Primeggiano le affermazioni sulla necessità di ristabilire un dialogo costruttivo con la Russia, visione questa che potrebbe non essere gradita dall’altra sponda dell’Oceano Atlantico.

*


Exclusive: German chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz calls for ‘a new policy’ toward eastern Europe and Russia

In a DW exclusive interview, the Social Democrats’ candidate to replace Angela Merkel urged for a new — and European — approach to Russia, and outlined his vision for Germany’s future.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he would push for a new strategy toward dealing with Russia and other eastern European countries if he were to become chancellor in Germany’s upcoming general election in September.

“We need a new policy toward the east that revitalizes the principle of the OSCE and CSCE, but as a principle of the European Union,” he told DW in an exclusive interview.

He said there should be a return to the “mutual principles” for security and human rights in Europe agreed within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE and its former title as the CSCE) — the intergovernmental organization that enables dialogue between western and eastern countries in Europe.

“I also say that Russia and other countries need to accept that European integration will continue,” he told DW. “If we want to ensure joint security in Europe, then it’s about the European Union and Russia.”

Scholz, the top candidate for the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), said that Russia’s annexation of Crimea “is a huge problem” that continues to fuel tensions in eastern Ukraine.

“That’s why it’s imperative that we return to the rule of law. Might does not make right,” he said.

He also did not rule out a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the German government “has always met with the Russian government” and that there were many talks held in recent years.

Scholz’s comments also come amid heightened tensions between the EU and Belarus over human rights violations and amid ongoing dispute with EU-members Poland and Hungary over what Brussels has dubbed rule of law violations.

On COVID vaccines: ‘We have a responsibility for the whole world’

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, Scholz said that Germany has an obligation to ensure enough vaccines are produced for countries in need.

“In any case, we have a responsibility for the whole world and we must not focus on just ourselves,” Scholz said.

“We need to continue ensuring that vaccinations are exported around the globe — and we must expand production capacities in a way that the rest of world can receive enough doses,” he emphasized.

“There is no lack in willingness to spend money. We have already done that, and we need to continue to do so,” the finance minister added.

He was firm, however, that the responsibility does not lie solely with Germany in ensuring the doses reach those in need, but that recipient countries need to organize their vaccine rollouts.

“This needs to be organized by all those responsible on an international level as well as by those countries affected, to make sure the vaccinations reach the citizens of the global south,” he said.

As finance minister during the pandemic, Scholz oversaw the approval of a relief package worth €400 billion ($469 billion) — but brushed off criticism that the funds wouldn’t be enough to address the growing economic inequalities caused by the crisis.

On refugees: Other countries ‘do offer protection’

With a growing number of people fleeing violence in Afghanistan, the question of asylum-seekers and migrants is once again in the spotlight in the run-up to Germany’s general election.

When asked how he plans to deal with a potential new surge in migrant arrivals, Scholz said the focus should now shift to providing aid to the countries where they first arrive rather than committing to taking in a large number of people in Germany.

“In German and European politics, I don’t believe we are concerned enough about what happens to refugees when neighboring countries take them in,” he said.

“Many countries aren’t governed the same way we would expect in Germany. But they do offer protection,” Scholz added.

“That’s why there need to be prospects for integration in those countries in Africa, Asia and South America. And we need to share responsibility in that.”

While the German government has temporarily halted deportations to Afghanistan due to the security situation caused by Taliban advances, Scholz also said that he supported deportations of criminals, saying that those who commit crimes “should not expect to stay here.”

On the race for chancellor: ‘I want to lead the next government’ 

In recent weeks, the SPD have been polling between 15% and 18%, putting them behind Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance, led by candidate Armin Laschet.

But a recent comeback in the polls would make it possible for Scholz’s SPD to form a government with the environmentalist Greens or the Left Party.

Like many of Germany’s other major parties, Scholz ruled out working with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — but said his ultimate goal would be to unseat Merkel’s conservatives.

“I want to lead the next government,” he said. “And it’s good that we have several options to build a government.”

Pubblicato in: Devoluzione socialismo, Unione Europea

Bundestag. Si litigano come bagasce ai trogoli, sul Migration Compact.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2018-11-09.

2018-11-08__Germania_Bundestag__001

Il Global Migration Compact è un documento delle Nazioni Unite inteso a dare a tutte le nazioni direttive uniformi circa la migrazione.

Molte nazioni si sono rifiutate di firmare il documento.

Usa, Austria, Ungheria e Polonia non firmano il documento UN sui migranti.

Molte altre nazioni si sono associate in seguito.

Il problema è, o dovrebbe essere, molto semplice.

Detto documento non opera distinzione giuridica tra migrante economico, migrante per cause belliche, profugo, richiedente asilo e rifugiato: tutte figure giuridicamente molto differenti. Roba da primo anno di giurisprudenza.

Herr Kurz è stato il primo ad evidenziare questa anomalia.

* * * * * * *

«The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has demanded that Germany follow the US example and withdraw from the UN Migration Compact»

*

«Germany’s parliament held a rambunctious debate on Thursday about the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) brought a motion calling for Germany to withdraw from the agreement, following the US and Australia among others.»

*

«Furious interventions, angry accusations, and scornful laughter rang around the Bundestag chamber throughout the morning, as the various parliamentary groups argued about a pact that represents the first global attempt to set out parameters for managing migration»

* * *

I servizi televisivi sono rimasti in onda qualche decina di minuti primi: quindi sono stati eliminati.

Le scene erano di tafferugli severi, gente presa per il bavero, un altro sbattuto su banco, ed amenità del genere.

*

È significativo che al parlare di tasti dolenti gli animi si scaldino.

In fondo, per i liberal socialisti questo è un salvagente lanciato ad un naufrago che stia per annegare: spererebbero infatti di potersi far scudo di un patto internazionale. Peccato che abbiano omesso di ricordare un aspetto non del tutto marginale:

«the pact is not legally binding»

Poi,

«some members of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had raised the same point earlier in the week, complaining about government secrecy (especially on the part of the Social Democrat-led Foreign Ministry) and the fact that the compact did not distinguish between refugees and economic migrants»

Poi ci sono ancora persone che parlano del decadente Impero Bizantino.


Ma non è questo il vero problema.

Imperante Frau Merkel, nessuno al Bundestag rispondeva ai rappresentati di AfD: erano semplicemente ignorati. Non era possibile nemmeno salutarli.

Dopo le elezioni in Baviera ed in Hessen invece sembrerebbe che sia cambiato registro. Se è vero che tutti li insultano, sarebbe anche vero che non li ignorano più.


Deutsche Welle. 2018-11-08. German parliament rows over UN Migration Compact

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has demanded that Germany follow the US example and withdraw from the UN Migration Compact. Other parties took the chance to correct the far-right’s interpretations of the agreement.

*

Germany’s parliament held a rambunctious debate on Thursday about the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) brought a motion calling for Germany to withdraw from the agreement, following the US and Australia among others.

Furious interventions, angry accusations, and scornful laughter rang around the Bundestag chamber throughout the morning, as the various parliamentary groups argued about a pact that represents the first global attempt to set out parameters for managing migration.

“Millions of people from crisis-stricken regions around the world are being encouraged to get on the road,” said AfD leader Alexander Gauland. “Leftist dreamers and globalist elites want to secretly turn our country from a nation state into a settlement area.”

Though the motion was swiftly rejected once the debate was over, the AfD considered it a victory to get it on the agenda at all, since the German government is under no obligation to ask for the parliament’s approval to ratify the non-legally binding compact.

The AfD’s main issue

This sense of secrecy proved to be the AfD’s main line of attack. “Just a declaration of intention, hardly worth talking about, that’s why it wasn’t necessary to inform the public in advance,” said Gauland, whose party supporters have spent weeks claiming that the fact that the compact has not been a media issue is proof that the “mainstream” press is in league with the political establishment.

In fact, some MPs on Wednesday welcomed the chance to debate the agreement, and some came close to thanking the AfD for the opportunity to explain the compact in public, and counter the far-right interpretation that the compact will attract even more migrants to Germany by guaranteeing access to social welfare systems.

Indeed, some members of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) had raised the same point earlier in the week, complaining about government secrecy (especially on the part of the Social Democrat-led Foreign Ministry) and the fact that the compact did not distinguish between refugees and economic migrants.

“The motion by the AfD contains many false claims, but still it’s good that we have it, because it shows publicly and officially what kind of conspiracy theorists and right-wingers are getting blown through social media in this country,” said Joachim Stamp, migration and integration minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

“It should have been the task of the government long ago to explain the migration compact factually and publicly. You were silent for too long, and that allowed these conspiracy theories to start in the first place,” said Stamp, a member of the opposition Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Clearing up misinformation

Gauland did indeed misrepresent some points in the compact, and it was left to the CDU’s Stephan Harbarth to point out that nothing in the agreement required a change in German law and that it expressly reaffirms every country’s sovereign right to manage its own migration.

Harbarth argued that international forces like migration could only be solved at an international level by multilateral agreements. “We have to standardize the norms around the world,” he told the house. “When there is talk of creating access to basic welfare and basic health care, then those are minimum standards that have already been implemented in Germany long ago – we have to try and make sure they are introduced in other parts of the world.”

For this reason, the point of the compact was not to “encourage” migration, as Gauland claimed, but to limit the necessity for migration elsewhere. “That’s why we will vote for this pact, in the interests of Germany, and those who vote against this pact is acting against the national interests of Germany,” Harbarth said.

Meanwhile the Left party’s Sevim Dagdelen had good grounds to criticize both the AfD and the government: she wondered why she was the only Bundestag member who took the opportunity to attend the UN’s debates on the migration compact in New York. “So where were you with your criticism?” she asked the AfD. “And the foundation for this sordid fear campaign by the AfD was prepared by the government with its information policy,” she claimed.

But Dagdelen complained that the UN compact was also flawed, because it did not address essential causes of migration: global free trade agreements that favor rich countries, and the arms industry.

Pubblicato in: Devoluzione socialismo

Contrordine kompagni. Adesso AfD è solo ‘nazionalista’.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2018-03-01.

Leccaculo-1-732450

La lettura delle gazzette francesi del 1815 è maieutica e fa anche ridere a crepapelle.

Nel marzo 1815 Napoleone Bonaparte fuggì dall’Isola d’Elba e sbarcò a Golfe Juan, vicino ad Antibes. Le gazzette titolarono “Il mostro si è liberato dalle catene e viene a divorarci! All’armi!“.

Quando Napoleone raggiunse pochi giorni dopo Lione, le gazzette ne dettero il seguente annuncio: “Il generale Bonaparte ha raggiunto Lione“.

Pochi giorni ancora, ed ecco i titoli: «L’Imperatore è a Fontainbleau».

Ma il meglio dei megli arrivò due giorni dopo: «Sua Maestà l’Imperatore entra in Parigi che lo accoglie in giubilo!»

*

Stessa persona, stessi giornalisti, diverse le situazioni.

I giornalisti sono un sensibilissimo sensore del potere: il giornalista onesto no di certo, e si noti il singolare, ma tutti gli altri sono più che pronti a vendersi o, meglio, sono quanto mai desiderosi di essere comprati, anche per pochi spiccioli. Per i giornalisti l’oblio costituisce l’inferno su questa terra: sono saprofiti al potere.

*

È da tempo che si nota il viraggio dei giornalisti di Reuters.

Solo un anno or sono sarebbe stato impossibile trovare il nome AfD senza che questo fosse preceduto da una lunga serie di epiteti: razzisti, xenofobi, nazisti, ultra-destra, anti-europei, eurocritici, bigotti, codini, e così via. Li avevano accusati di tutto e di più, tralasciando solo l’aggiotaggio ed il pascolo abusivo.

Bene. Farete le vostre meraviglie, ma adesso la dizione politicamente corretta é

«the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD)».

*

«We should lift the ban on cooperation that we have.»

*

Il generale Bonaparte ha raggiunto Lione“.

Saremmo davvero curiosi di vedere come appelleranno AfD dopo le elezioni in Baviera e nell’Hessen. E come la inneggeranno quando avrà conquistato la Cancelleria.


Reuters. 2018-02-25. Germany’s far-right AfD set to embrace anti-Islam PEGIDA

A leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is pushing to overturn the party’s ban on members joining rallies by the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement – another sign of the rightward shift of Germany’s budding main opposition party.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) are struggling to stop voters switching to the AfD, which won almost 13 percent in a Sept. election and entered parliament. The latest INSA poll this week showed the AfD on 16 percent – overtaking the SPD for the first time.

Keen to ensure it does not alienate voters in the political centreground, the AfD has in the past been careful to avoid allying itself with the grassroots PEGIDA movement which holds regular events to protest against “Islamisation”.

Crowds at PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) rallies have dwindled since peaking in early 2015. At that time, some 25,000 supporters joined twilight rallies and marches through Dresden which struck a chord with those opposed to an influx of migrants in Germany.

“This is about PEGIDA in Dresden,” Joerg Meuthen, AfD co-leader, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily. “We should lift the ban on cooperation that we have,” he said.

He wants AfD members to be able to speak at PEGIDA rallies and show party symbols there.

The city of Dresden in the formerly communist east of Germany has since become home to a strong far-right movement and fertile ground for PEGIDA. At the marches, PEGIDA supporters hold placards with slogans such as “foreigners out”.

However, Meuthen acknowledged there could be a problem with any close links to Lutz Bachmann, one of the founders of the Dresden branch of PEGIDA who is widely viewed as a political liability.

Bachmann, who has drugs and burglary convictions, briefly quit as leader of PEGIDA after pictures were printed of him posing with a Hitler moustache and haircut.

Meuthen said his main problem with developing closer ties to PEGIDA was Bachmann. “We cannot imagine any cooperation that is rooted in the person of Bachmann,” he was quoted as saying FAZ.

Some other AfD leaders support the shift. Co-leader Alexander Gauland told the weekly Stern that a rapprochement was possible if Bachmann retreated further into the background.

Several AfD lawmakers have made headlines due to comments related to German history. Earlier this week, one regional AfD lawmaker drew criticism from Jewish groups for saying Germany should stop laying cobblestones with the names of victims of the Nazi regime.

Last year, the AfD’s party leader in the eastern state of Thuringia caused a storm for criticising Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, saying it was a monument of shame.

On Wednesday, the works council of a plant belonging to carmaker Daimler said neo-Nazis were trying to infiltrate the company.

Pubblicato in: Devoluzione socialismo, Unione Europea

Herr Peter Boehringer è Presidente della Commissione Bilancio. – Reuters

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2018-02-01.

Völkischer Beobachter 001_

Davvero solo la morte libera da certe persone e da certe idee.

Quanti siano veramente democratici nella realtà dei fatti accolgono sereni i risultati delle urne. E magari analizzano criticamente i motivi dei propri insuccessi.

Liberal e socialisti ideologici no, per il semplice motivo che sono dittatoriali, rivoluzionari. Le ideologie accecano le menti, le rendono avulse dal reale.

E si ricordi come una rivoluzione altro non sia che il mezzo armato con cui una piccola minoranza si impadronisce del potere per esercitare la propria tirannide.

Devoluzione del socialismo ideologico. – Eu Observer

Non ha vinto Mr Zeman. Hanno perso liberal e socialisti. – Bloomberg

Liberal e socialisti ideologici sono stati cacciati via dai governi di quasi tutti i paesi occidentali: la gente non li vota più, non ne vuole più sapere. L’elenco delle loro recenti sconfitte è semplicemente impressionante.

Essi sono ancora forti, sia chiaro, ed in decenni di potere hanno colonizzato il deep state, la magistratura ed i media, forgiando così il loro braccio armato: vero e proprio gruppo di fuoco.

Ma non per questo hanno preso atto della storia.

*

I fatti.

Per tradizione settantennale, la Presidenza della Commissione Bilancio del Bundestag è attribuita ad un membro espresso dal maggiore partito di minoranza. Tradizione di cui prende atto anche il Regolamento del Bundestag.

Con le elezioni del 24 settembre 2017 Alternative für Deutschland è diventato il maggiore partito di minoranza. I suoi membri sono stati votati dal popolo sovrano e sono deputati del parlamento tedesco.

Ecco cosa dicono i media.

«A lawmaker from the eurosceptic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) who has criticised euro zone rescues and the European Central Bank has been chosen as the chair of parliament’s influential budget committee»

*

«The top job in what is nicknamed the “king’s committee” due to its power in scrutinizing government ministries’ budgets is traditionally reserved for the largest opposition party. That is set to be the AfD if Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) seal a new coalition»

*

«The committee voted on Wednesday to accept AfD candidate Peter Boehringer, who rose to prominence by campaigning for the repatriation of Germany’s gold reserves from overseas»

*

«He has also called for an “immediate end to mass illegal Islamic migration to Europe that threatens our existence”»

*

«wants the country to leave the euro zone and re-introduce the deutsche mark»

*

«We’ve noticed that he has made racist and misogynist comments»

*

«Mainstream parties are keen to avoid the impression of disadvantaging the AfD by changing rules or traditions as they do not want it to have grounds to complain of unfair treatment»

* * * * * * *

L’articolo è stato scritto in perfetto stile copiato dal Völkischer Beobachter, il giornale del partito nazionalsocialista.

  1. «Mainstream parties are keen to avoid the impression of disadvantaging the AfD by changing rules or traditions as they do not want it to have grounds to complain of unfair treatment». I partiti tradizionali, tuttora impegnati in ovattate discussioni sulla possibilità di arrivare a definire i presupposti per cercare di intraprendere i colloqui iniziali volti ad una eventuale riedizione della Große Koalition, or son solo cinque mesi, avrebbero voluto cambiare le regole del Bundestag, e non lo hanno fatto per mera convenienza. Quindi, qualora fosse loro conveniente, ne farebbero come Beria in Georgia. Sono invero tirannici anti-democratici.

  2. Herr Peter Boehringer è trattato da Reuters al rango di ominide, elemento subrazziale, perché è:

– eurosceptic,

– anti-immigrant,

– has criticised euro zone,

– for the repatriation of Germany’s gold reserves from overseas;

– immediate end to mass illegal Islamic migration to Europe,

– wants the country to leave the euro zone,

– re-introduce the deutsche mark,

– has made racist and misogynist comments.

*

Tutte queste caratteristiche sono vissute dai liberal e dai socialisti ideologici come eresie degne soltanto del rogo, sono un reato di lesa maestà di questi ammirevoli illuminati.

Eppure queste sono proprio queste le idee per le quali Stati Uniti e già molto paesi europei hanno tolto il voto ai liberal ed ai socialisti. E vedremo anche come andranno le cose il 4 di marzo in Italia: non è mica detto che il partito democratico vinca le elezioni.

*

Si potrebbe comprendere, anche se non condividere, l’arrogante supponenza dei vincitori: ma quella dei perdenti falliti altro non è che tragedia farsesca.

Vogliono essere rispettati ed ascoltati: bene. Che vincano le elezioni. Almeno una per sbaglio. In caso contrario si rassegnino a quello che sono: cascami della storia.

Sì: Reuters assomiglia ogni giorno che passa sempre più al Völkischer Beobachter, quando annunciava enfatico che le truppe tedesche si erano vittoriosamente ritirate in fretta e furia con perdite immani.


Reuters. 2018-01-31. Far-right AfD lawmaker becomes chair of German budget committee

A lawmaker from the eurosceptic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) who has criticised euro zone rescues and the European Central Bank has been chosen as the chair of parliament’s influential budget committee.

The top job in what is nicknamed the “king’s committee” due to its power in scrutinizing government ministries’ budgets is traditionally reserved for the largest opposition party. That is set to be the AfD if Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) seal a new coalition.

The committee voted on Wednesday to accept AfD candidate Peter Boehringer, who rose to prominence by campaigning for the repatriation of Germany’s gold reserves from overseas. He has also called for an “immediate end to mass illegal Islamic migration to Europe that threatens our existence”.

The AfD and the pro-market Free Democrats (FDP) voted in favor of Boehringer, 48, while the conservatives, SPD and Greens abstained. The far-left Linke voted against him.

The AfD also succeeded on Wednesday in securing the chairmanship of two other parliamentary committees – for legal affairs and tourism.

Striking a conciliatory tone after the budget committee vote, Boehringer, a former corporate consultant, told reporters he was optimistic that the parties would be able to work well together on the panel.

“The budget committee will be well managed and… in my opinion, in a balancing way. Of course we won’t create a spectacle in the budget committee,” he said.

Boehringer wants all of Germany’s gold repatriated from vaults in New York, Paris and elsewhere, but he has also said this is not a matter for the budget committee.

CONCERNS

The AfD, which surged into parliament in last September’s election with nearly 13 percent of the vote amid public concerns over a mass influx of migrants into Germany, wants the country to leave the euro zone and re-introduce the deutsche mark.

There have been concerns the AfD will become more credible and legitimate by taking positions like the budget committee chair but the other parties said they respected the AfD had earned the role with its strong election result.

Mainstream parties are keen to avoid the impression of disadvantaging the AfD by changing rules or traditions as they do not want it to have grounds to complain of unfair treatment.

Boehringer has played down expectations of what he can do in the new job, telling Reuters on Tuesday the AfD would not be able to thwart government plans to spend on refugees or possible euro zone bailouts as mainstream parties have a majority in the committee and so would outvote it. [L8N1PP721]

The former head of the budget committee – Gesine Loetzsch, a member of the far-left Linke – said she had concerns about the choice of Boehringer, especially as he would have to represent the committee to international organizations.

“We’ve noticed that he has made racist and misogynist comments and that’s not a good foundation for representing the committee,” she said.

The new AfD chair of the legal affairs committee, Stephan Brandner, is a close ally of Bjoern Hoecke, a regional party leader who provoked outrage last year when he described Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial as a “monument of shame”.