AfD parliamentary group - Philip Zeschmann wants to control the Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The new member of the AfD parliamentary group, the independent Philip Zeschmann, met with criticism when he was introduced as a candidate for the supervisory body of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The former Free Voter politician did not consider the AfD parliamentary group to be right-wing extremist, but did not answer specifically how he feels about the party as a whole. "I know the AfD from my parliamentary work over the last four years," said the independent politician on Wednesday in the main committee of the state parliament in Potsdam. "For me, this work in parliament has not been recognizable as right-wing extremist."
The AfD parliamentary group has not yet been represented in the control commission that scrutinizes the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The majority in the state parliament has not yet elected any of its candidates to the committee. The AfD parliamentary group therefore took legal action before the state's constitutional court, but was unsuccessful. The state's highest judges ruled in September that the AfD parliamentary group was not entitled to have any of its members elected to the committee. Parliament has not yet voted on Zeschmann's candidacy for the commission - the politician is non-party but a member of the AfD parliamentary group.
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD state association as a suspected right-wing extremist in 2020. The AfD, on the other hand, considers itself to be based on the free democratic basic order. Zeschmann said: "I cannot assess whether the AfD is right-wing extremist or not. That is the job of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution." CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann reproached him: "You are obviously afraid to evaluate this, even to use categories such as right-wing extremism at all."
When asked by CDU MP Steeven Bretz whether he identified with the AfD and whether he felt comfortable in the company of Thuringia's party leader Björn Höcke, Zeschmann evaded the question: "Working out solutions is my job."
Zeschmann wanted to reject doubts about his suitability for the control commission. "I stand on the basis of the free democratic basic order," he said. He co-founded the Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance Schöneiche.
Zeschmann was a member of the SPD from 1987 to 2011. He later joined the Free Voters. In November, he left the Free Voters and their parliamentary group. They subsequently lost their parliamentary group status in the state parliament because they now have fewer than five members. They are defending themselves against this in the state constitutional court.
SPD MP Erik Stohn asked Zeschmann how he assessed the role of AfD parliamentary group leader Hans-Christoph Berndt for the Zukunft Heimat association. Berndt is the founder of the association, about which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution wrote in 2022: "At demonstrations, events and on the internet, the association spreads racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and xenophobic theses." Zeschmann said: "I can't judge that." And: "I don't share anything because I can't understand the assessment at all."
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- Despite facing criticism, independent politician Philip Zeschmann, who recently joined the AfD parliamentary group, has not yet been elected to the control commission in the Brandenburg State parliament, which scrutinizes the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
- The Constitutional Court of Brandenburg previously ruled that the AfD parliamentary group is not entitled to have any of its members elected to the control commission, despite the group's legal action challenging this decision.
- As a former SPD member and later a Free Voter, Zeschmann co-founded the Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance Schöneiche and has since faced questions about his alignment with the AfD, specifically regarding his relationships with AfD parliamentary group leader Hans-Christoph Berndt and Thuringia's party leader Björn Höcke.
- The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the AfD state association as a suspected right-wing extremist, a label that the AfD itself rejects, claiming to be based on the free democratic basic order.
- Although Zeschmann and other AfD members argue that they stand on the basis of the free democratic basic order, critics, such as the CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann, accuse them of avoiding categories like right-wing extremism, leaving their true political affiliations unclear.
Source: www.stern.de
