It doesn't look as if the Christian Democrats will be able to wrap up the matter quickly or with any degree of noise. "The CDU is my party," said Hans-Georg Maassen on Tuesday morning on Deutschlandfunk, who put it on record that he still sees his political homeland among the conservatives. His party now has a completely different opinion - and would rather throw him out sooner rather than later.
The CDU Presidium unanimously called on the former President for the Protection of the Constitution to leave the party, provided with an ultimatum: If he does not leave the party by Sunday, February 5, at 12 p.m., the Federal Executive should initiate expulsion proceedings against Maassen "and him withdraw membership rights with immediate effect," it said on Monday from the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus.
Maassen has been irritating for years with statements from the right-wing fringe, most recently with statements about a "green-red racial theory" or "eliminatory racism against whites", which have now apparently overstretched the suffering of the CDU. In their decision, the party leadership clearly distanced itself from Maassen, who repeatedly used language "from the milieu of anti-Semites and conspiracy ideologues to ethnic expressions". "The measure is full," said CDU leader Friedrich Merz. He no longer wanted to be provoked by "Mr. Maaßen."
It is questionable whether Merz will succeed. Maassen - who had to leave as head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2018 after he questioned right-wing extremist riots in Chemnitz - is currently not showing that he will voluntarily hand over his party card. This points to a lengthy and complicated party exclusion procedure for the CDU, which could still get ugly.
The SPD spent many agonizing years expelling the controversial author Thilo Sarrazin from the party, who repeatedly caught the public eye with cross-shots during the arduous process. Even Maaßen does not give the impression that he wants to exercise restraint in the future: "I will not let anyone take my right to freedom of expression," he etched on Monday at "Welt", defending his statements and giving the process no chance of success .
Instead, he presents himself as a political martyr who, in his opinion, didn't say anything racist, "but what many people in the country think". Accordingly, many simple members and party friends in southern Thuringia are behind him, he said on Tuesday. He only learned from the media that he should leave the party. He dismissed allegations that he was spreading ethnic ideas, among other things, as "pure allegations".
In fact, Maassen does have supporters. His district association Schmalkalden-Meiningen in Thuringia, which nominated him with several district associations as a direct candidate for the Bundestag in 2021, sees no reason for his expulsion, even after the most recent statements, as the district chairman Ralf Liebauf said at the request of "inSüdthüringen.de". The right-wing conservative "Union of Values", which Maassen chaired at the weekend, is also defending its new boss: "Neither the Union of Values nor its new federal chairman, Hans-Georg Maassen, can be forced to leave the CDU; not even by ultimatums," said it in a press release on Monday.
The association, founded in 2017, sees itself as a “conservative grassroots movement” within the Union and claims to have 4,000 members, 85 percent of whom belonged to the CDU/CSU. However, the "union of values" is not one of the official party structures and is increasingly becoming a thorn in the side of the federal party. Once started as an arch-conservative hope project - the then Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) sent a greeting in 2018 - the association moved further and further to the right. Here, too, the measure now seems to be full.
"The self-proclaimed 'union of values' has long represented values that are incompatible with membership in the CDU," said the chairman of the Junge Union (JU), Johannes Winkel, on Monday to "Spiegel". He asked the parent party to adopt an incompatibility resolution. The deputy federal chairman of the CDU, Karin Prien, also called for membership in the "Union of Values" to be declared incompatible with membership in the CDU. The association moves "clearly outside of the CDU," she told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung," and presumes to "shift the discourse within the CDU clearly to the right, towards the AfD." Maassen's election as chairman was "after a large number of gaffes, the final proof that membership in this group does not fit with Christian Democratic values".
The possible exclusion of Maassen on the one hand, the official demarcation from the "union of values" on the other hand: This means both an opportunity and a risk for the federal party and its chairman. Merz had assured in the "Bild am Sonntag" that "the course of the Union, to clearly demarcate us to the right, would be adhered to ironically" - that could now be proven, on top of that in a coup d'état. However, a debate about the borders to the right is already in full swing, the demarcation and exclusion of Maassen and his "Union of Values" should fuel this additionally - and make some headlines.
Sources: Deutschlandfunk, "Tagesschau", "Welt", "Bild am Sonntag", "Der Spiegel", ntv, "inSüdthüringen.de", "Süddeutsche Zeitung"
