BERLIN (AP) 鈥 Germany's main opposition party is trying to get a rid of a member and former head of the country's domestic intelligence agency after he complained about what he said was a move toward 鈥渆liminatory racism against whites.鈥
The leadership of the center-right Christian Democratic Union unanimously approved a resolution on Monday calling for Hans-Georg Maassen to leave the party. It said that it would seek to start expulsion proceedings if he doesn't willingly do so by Sunday.
Maassen was removed as the head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency in 2018 after appearing to downplay far-right violence against migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz. He has since become a vocal if marginal figure on the hard right of the CDU, the party once led by former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and ran unsuccessfully for election to the national parliament in 2021.
Party leaders' patience with Maassen ran out after a mid-January tweet in which he said that the direction of 鈥渢he driving forces in the political media sphere鈥 is 鈥渆liminatory racism against whites and the burning desire for Germany to kick the bucket.鈥
鈥淗is language and the body of thought that he expresses with it have no place in the CDU,鈥 party leader Friedrich Merz told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper this weekend. 鈥淭he limit has been reached.鈥
Monday's resolution said that Maassen 鈥渞epeatedly uses language from the milieu of anti-semites and conspiracy ideologists.鈥
In Germany, expelling party members is a complicated and often lengthy process that frequently fails. Merz acknowledged that it is 鈥渘ot entirely simple鈥 but said the party is examining what possibilities it has.
On Saturday, Maassen was elected as head of the Werte-Union, a group that describes itself as representing conservative members of the CDU but isn鈥檛 formally linked to the party. CDU leaders have struggled in recent years to settle on an approach to the Werte-Union, which is politically marginal but has at times gained plenty of attention.
The position had been vacant since Maassen's predecessor, Max Otte, stepped down after agreeing to run as the far-right Alternative for Germany party's candidate for German president last year. Otte was later kicked out of the CDU.
Monday's party resolution called on CDU members to leave the Werte-Union, which it said is increasingly incompatible with the center-right opposition bloc's values.
