The AfD may be thrown out of its hall for the party conference in June. At least that’s what the city of Essen is planning, as FOCUS exclusively learned online. The party leadership is now threatening a lawsuit.
The past week was not a good one, AfD leader Alice Weidel summed up at the weekend in view of a series of scandals. Shortly before the European elections, the party leadership could now face another restless week.
The AfD federal party conference in 2024 may not take place as planned. The Essen city council is expected to vote on Wednesday on whether to throw the party out of its party conference hall. FOCUS online learned this exclusively from people familiar with the proposal. The Green faction in the city council announced that it would vote for the plan – so the proposal’s passage is virtually certain.
Now the AfD is reacting to the plans. In the party headquarters, people are emphatically calm: They see no reason why the city of Essen would want to “suddenly breach the contract shortly before the event date,” according to FOCUS online’s request. At 14 AfD federal party conferences so far, such a crime has not been identified once.
In the event of a contract termination, the party wants to go to court, and the chances are then good. The party did not respond to the question of whether it would make a voluntary commitment.
The party actually wants to hold its party conference from June 28 to 30 in the Ruhr metropolis – as it did in 2015 in the Grugahalle. The responsible trade fair company had concluded the contract with the party.
Because other parties such as the CDU and SPD have already held their party conferences in the hall, they felt obliged to make the venue available to the AfD due to the so-called “contracting obligation”.
When both the contract and the AfD’s Potsdam remigration meeting became known in January, the exhibition company’s supervisory board felt compelled to review the rental. The mayor of Essen, Thomas Kufen (CDU), said at the time: “In view of the current developments surrounding the party, holding the party conference is unthinkable for me.”
The argument: Due to the sudden large-scale demonstrations against the AfD, Kufen felt that “public order and security” could not be guaranteed. According to estimates, around 80,000 people could demonstrate against the AfD party conference. A large police presence would be necessary to ensure order.
A broad alliance of parties, unions and churches has called for peaceful protests. However, it cannot be ruled out that some demonstrators want to directly disrupt the party conference. In addition, in the Ruhr area people are particularly careful when there are large crowds of people on the streets. At the 2010 Love Parade in Duisburg, 21 people died due to mass panic. Afterwards there was heavy criticism because of an inadequate security concept.
However, the trade fair supervisory board’s examination initially did not lead to a rejection because there were fears of legal difficulties: the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia had decided in a similar case at the beginning of February that a municipality must make its community center available to the AfD.
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A month before the party conference, the matter is now getting rolling again. Mayor Kufen wants to introduce a proposal to the city council that is intended to prevent the Essen party conference with a new argument: “We have noticed that an increasing radicalization of significant parts of the AfD has been observed since the contract was signed,” said Kufen when asked by FOCUS online.
The party’s language has also become more extreme, so the argument goes. It can therefore be assumed that there is a high probability that crimes will occur at the party conference – in a building in the city.
It is therefore conceivable, for example, that Nazi slogans are used in speeches, as the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke did. He was sentenced by the Halle (Saale) regional court for shouting “Everything for Germany”. The city of Essen sees itself as having a duty to prevent such conceivable incidents. Kufen demands that something like this does not happen again: “The party has to ensure this. Otherwise we will not be able to make the Grugahalle available.”
In the CDU politician’s proposal, the AfD is specifically asked to make a written commitment as part of the rental agreement to prevent criminal statements. If the party makes the declaration and such slogans are still used, it would have to pay a fine of up to 500,000 euros. If no such declaration is made by June 4, the contract will be terminated. The city would bear any costs incurred as a result.
The Essen Green parliamentary group is currently examining whether it will agree to the mayor’s proposal. Important: The expulsion must be legally watertight. “Any success of the AfD in court must be avoided at all costs,” said parliamentary group leader Sandra Schumacher to FOCUS online. “It is a difficult decision that we now have to make. It is of course our goal to fight the AfD, but we have to choose the means carefully.”
The Greens form an alliance with Mayor Kufen’s CDU in the Essen city council. If the two groups agree to the proposal, it would receive a majority. The SPD, which is strongly represented in the council, could also possibly support the application.
Being kicked out of the Grugahalle would pose major problems for the AfD: around a month before the party conference, it would probably be difficult to find a suitable replacement hall. The party is expecting around 600 delegates, plus press representatives and helpers. But it’s not just about the venue, hotels and travel would also have to be rebooked. All of this would affect the party financially.
If the party conference had to be postponed, the AfD would potentially suffer political damage. After numerous scandals involving, among others, Björn Höcke, Maximilian Krah and Petr Bystron, the party executive board could not reorganize itself through elections. Important decisions for the state elections in the fall and the federal elections next year would have to be postponed.
The city of Essen, on the other hand, could breathe a sigh of relief if the party conference does not take place. According to a report in the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”, the plan was to close the entire Grugapark and Grugabad when the party conference took place. In addition, a street should only be made accessible to AfD delegates. That would have significantly restricted the city’s citizens; almost an entire district would have been a restricted zone for at least three days.
In the event of a cancellation, the security forces in the Ruhr area could concentrate entirely on the European Football Championship taking place at that time. The games are played in Essen’s neighboring cities of Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund, among others.
But one thing will still disappoint football fans: According to the “Westdeutsche Allgemeiner Zeitung”, a national team had canceled its accommodation in Essen because of the AfD party conference – the team would stay away from the event even if the event was canceled.