The "Union of Values" group, which is not formally recognized by the CDU and CSU, has encountered severe turbulence due to the willingness of its chairman Max Otte to run for the office of Federal President on behalf of the AfD.

One of the figureheads of the registered association "Union of Values", the former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, then declared his resignation.

Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Maassen wrote that he found it "completely unacceptable that the head of the Union of Values ​​had the AfD nominate him as a candidate for the office of Federal President and the Board of the Union of Values ​​tolerated that."

This "discredits the work of the union of values, which is supposed to work within the CDU".

He sees this as a betrayal of the members.

Otte's predecessor, the former chairman of the "Union of Values" Alexander Mitsch, told the editorial network Germany (RND) that Otte "crossed a red line with the candidacy".

After the election of Friedrich Merz as CDU chairman, "the union of values ​​should now dissolve in an orderly manner".

process of elimination initiated

In a board decision on Tuesday evening, the CDU temporarily suspended Max Otte's membership in the party;

a proper exclusion procedure has been set in motion by his CDU district association in Cologne.

Otte, on the other hand, stated on Tuesday that he was now letting the presidency of the "Values ​​Union" rest, which labels itself as "the conservative grassroots movement" of the Union parties.

He justified this with the "respect" for the function of the Federal President.

At the same time, Otte let it be known that he would reconsider his willingness to run if the CDU changed its mind again on the candidate question and put up its own candidate instead of its declared support for the incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD).

Otte's behavior is designed to further deepen divisions and differences within the association.

Last May, Otte was only elected by a narrow majority (115 votes) to succeed the retiring Mitsch, while his opponent Juliane Ried received 103 votes.

Declaration of incompatibility with the AfD of 2020

To this day, reports on the website of the Union of Values ​​document that things must have been very busy at that association meeting.

After Otte's election, 30 supporters of the defeated candidate left the hall;

the clerk also played "offended liverwurst" and left.

With his willingness to make himself available to the AfD for a candidacy, Otte also violated principles and resolutions that the “union of values” imposed on itself.

In March 2020, the former federal executive board and the state chairmen of the association passed a "Frankfurt Declaration", which emphasizes the incompatibility with the AfD.

It states that the Union of Values ​​“resolutely rejects cooperation with the AfD and the Left Party and has never called for cooperation.

She is fully behind the relevant decisions of the CDU federal party conference.

The AfD represents positions that are incompatible with our goals and values.”