“I voted to throw out Krah as he has been the problem in this case and also previously with several things like Russia-China questions,” Jaak Madison, an Estonian MEP in the ID group, told POLITICO. “But I did not support punishing all the Germans.”
In a last-ditch effort to avoid being ejected from the ID group, AfD MEPs requested that the ID group expel Krah — and not the whole AfD delegation — for “continued violation of the Group’s cohesion and reputation.” That effort ultimately failed.
Tensions have been running high for months between the AfD and other ID parties in Parliament due to a series of scandals, many involving Krah. In April, German police arrested one of Krah’s parliamentary aides over allegations he spied for China.
Soon after that, German public prosecutors initiated preliminary investigations over allegations that Krah had accepted payments from Russia and China “for his work as an MEP.” Another AfD candidate has been embroiled in a cash-for-influence scandal involving a pro-Russian propaganda outlet.
Krah announced Wednesday that he would pause his campaign and step down from his party’s leadership board — while remaining the party’s top candidate ahead of the EU election.
The repeated scandals appear to have contributed to a slide in the AfD’s popularity. POLITICO’s Poll of Polls shows AfD on track to win 16 percent of votes, down from 22 percent in January.
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