Essen municipality calls off rental contract for AfD party assembly.
Come June, the AfD had planned their party convention at Essen's Grugahalle. But with the city making demands before they agreed to rent out the venue, the contract was subsequently canceled.
According to a spokesperson for the city, the cancellation of the agreement was just decided. There haven't been any objections raised by the district government and any issues with municipal supervision have been dealt with. As the majority shareholder of the fair, Essen demanded that the AfD would need to agree to certain conditions—if they were to host their convention there. These included committing not to make criminal statements like "All for Germany" and stopping any infringements. If not, the AfD would need to face a fine of 500,000 euros per violation. If these pledges were not given, the hall's rental agreement would be terminated instantly.
Roman Reusch, an AfD federal board member, deemed the actions of the Grugahalle and Essen as "illegal" during an evening statement on Tuesday. "A legally valid contract can't be unilaterally altered in a country governed by law," he stated. With a lawsuit as their last resort, the party wants these conditions removed.
Tino Chrupalla, a spokesperson for the AfD, also spoke to "Bild" on Tuesday, revealing the party's intentions. "Yep, we'll sue. And that's exactly the plan," he stated. With termination of the rental agreement mentioned, the AfD had already filed a criminal complaint against Essen's mayor, Thomas Kufen, and the managing director of the fair company last Friday. This contract for the event venue had been signed in January 2023.
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Despite the cancellation of the rental contract for their party conference at Essen's Grugahalle, the AfD is considering legal action to have the restrictive conditions removed. Regardless, the AfD already filed a criminal complaint against Essen's mayor and the managing director of the fair company last week, as they had originally agreed to hold the conference in Essen (NRW) in June.
