AfD's Top Candidate in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Defends Push for Russian Gas
Leif-Erik Holm, the AfD's leading candidate for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's state election, discussed his path to power and his call to resume Russian gas imports in a new interview. The state election is scheduled for September 20.
In the latest episode of Politico's podcast "Inside AfD," journalists Pauline von Pezold and Frederik Schindler interview Leif-Erik Holm, the AfD's top candidate for the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. State elections are set for September 20, and Holm is aiming to become the state's minister-president.
During the conversation, Holm indicates that if his party does not win outright, he would not rule out cooperating with the CDU or pursuing arrangements in which other parties tolerate an AfD-led government. At the same time, he expresses a wish to see Germany's established parties pushed out of the political mainstream entirely.
Call to resume Russian gas imports
A central focus of the interview is Holm's energy policy, particularly his demand for Germany to return to importing Russian gas. The journalists press him on how this position squares with the European Union's import bans and Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, and whether the AfD would knowingly be creating new energy and security dependencies for Germany.
Questions over party personnel
The interview also turns critically to personnel within the AfD's state branch. Schindler and von Pezold question Holm about the party's new general secretary and about board members of the AfD's youth organization, Generation Deutschland, some of whom have past ties to the far-right NPD party.
"Inside AfD" is Politico's weekly podcast examining Germany's most contentious political party, which continues to grow in support despite radicalization concerns and monitoring by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
