Berlin
The former president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, has been elected chairman of the right-wing conservative union of values.
The former Office for the Protection of the Constitution is on Saturday Hans Georg Maassen was elected chairman of the right-wing conservative union of values. This was announced by the group in the short message service Twitter. As chairman of the group, he wanted to “work for the implementation of Christian-democratic goals, for conservative and liberal values and against any kind of eco-socialism and gender wokism,” Maassen explained on Twitter before the election.
The CDU, which is examining a party exclusion procedure against him, accused Maassen of a “shabby dirt campaign” against him. In recent years, Maassen has repeatedly caused a stir and caused trouble in Germany with right-wing populist statements CDU – most recently with statements that were criticized as racist.
Maassen now chairman of the Union of Values
The Union of Values, founded in 2017, sees itself as a group conservative Christian Democrat. She argues that the CDU, under the then party leader Angela Merkel, had shifted too far to the left and had to take more conservative positions again. It operates as a registered association and is not one of the official party organizations. The federal CDU is a thorn in the side of the union of values because of their criticism of the official party course.
According to the group, it has around 4000 members. In the past two years it has been marked by internal disputes. In 2021, the AfD-affiliated economist Max Otte was surprisingly elected to succeed founding chairman Alexander Mitsch. Otte had to give up the presidency after running as a candidate for the AfD for the office of Federal President last year.
Founding chairman Mitsch told the AFP news agency on Saturday that he believed Maaßen was capable of “putting the union of values back on the right course after the Otte disaster and exerting a constructive political influence”. The CDU must change “to correct the disastrous policy of the Merkel era and the ‘traffic light’,” said Mitsch.
CDU examines Hans-Georg Maassen’s exclusion from the party
On Tuesday, the federal CDU announced that they party exclusion procedure checked against Maassen. Party leader Friedrich Merz had previously criticized Maassen’s statements as “unacceptable”.
The reason for the criticism was interview von Maassen with a right-wing populist internet portal. “According to green-red racial theory, whites are an inferior race,” he claimed there, among other things. He blamed “politicians and attitude journalists” for “racism practiced against the native Germans”.
From 2012 to 2018 Maassen was President of the Federal Office for defense of Constitution. He had to vacate the post after questioning right-wing extremist riots in Chemnitz. In 2021 he failed in the federal elections as a direct candidate for the CDU in Thuringia. (afp)
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