Berlin (dts) - The “Values Union” led by the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maaßen, who, according to “T-online”, is observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a right-wing extremist, wants to run in the federal election in 2025. “There are currently three state associations, for example North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg will be added in May,” said deputy party leader Alexander Mitsch to “Welt” (Friday edition). “At the end of the year we want to have a regional organization in all 16 federal states and compete in the federal elections in 2025.” There are currently the regional associations for Thuringia, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
The “Union of Values” would have to increase the number of members in order to achieve its ambitious goals, including appointing the Prime Minister in Thuringia after the state elections in September, but the party leadership is restrictive when it comes to new members. “If we were to give a positive decision to all applications for membership, the party would currently have around 1.000 members. “However, around two thirds of the applications have not yet been fully processed,” said party vice-president Mitsch. This means that the entire “Union of Values” currently has around 300 party members.
“We examine each case carefully to prevent extremists or notorious troublemakers from infiltrating the party. When you grow as a young party, you have to be particularly careful in this regard,” said Mitsch. “After the announcement of the founding of the party, the Values Union received a flood of applications for membership; the support association currently has around 10.000 members, including applications that have not yet been processed.”
Regarding the party's attitude towards the AfD, the party vice-president said that they do not commit to specific parties as partners in advance, but rather talk to everyone. “Now we’re going to take part in the first elections, analyze the results and our options and then explore collaborations,” says Mitsch. “The Union of Values will cooperate with the parties with whom we can implement as much of our own program as possible and thus the policy change.”
