For May 11, AFD MPs have invited right-wing journalists and bloggers to the Bundestag. The first "Free Media Conference", as they call the event, is about how an exchange of information can be "made better and more efficient in the future," the letter of invitation states.
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In addition to lectures, there should also be a one-hour "practical seminar" with the lawyer Ralf Höcker, topic: "Legalize - risk and side effects". Höcker frequently represents AFD officials in media rights litigation. For the final presentation "Successful Campaigns" a "surprise guest" is announced.
According to SPIEGEL information, Stephen Bannon is requested, the former chief strategist of US President Donald Trump and ex-editor of the right-wing news portal Breitbart News. "We are now in the detailed arrangements," confirmed Petr Bystron, one of the hosts of the conference.
Praise for the AFD
Bannon has been trying for months to bring together the right-wing forces in Europe and said two weeks ago in an interview with the right-wing newspaper "Junge Freiheit" that the AfD is doing "excellent work" and is its point of contact in Germany. Bannon does not deny the invitation to the SPIEGEL.
If he can not, Nigel Farage is also requested, the former boss of the anti-European Ukip party from the UK. "For reasons of timing is still open who comes," says Bystron: "But one of the big ones who know from practice how to win election campaigns, will come."
Next to Bystron are Udo Hemmelgarn, Nicole Höchst and Uwe Schulz. However, according to the invitation, it also takes place "with the friendly support of the Committee for Culture and Media and the communication team of the AfD parliamentary group".
In the invitation, the organizers write that it will be the "largest network meeting of the free media". They wanted to exchange views with them, because they would have done "a large part of the work in advance" of the general election. And: "Without their fair coverage we would not be so successful."
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