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Villa on Lehnitzsee: People met here in November 2023 to talk about “remigration”.

Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa

Wilhelm Wilderink has missed a deadline for the CDU Potsdam: So far, the party has not received a declaration of resignation from the man in whose villa on Lehnitzsee a meeting of right-wing networkers on the topic of “remigration” took place last November. This means that party expulsion proceedings against Wilderink are imminent. He is currently a member of the CDU district executive committee in Potsdam. The board had given Wilderink until Monday to voluntarily resign from the CDU.

“So far we have not received a letter of resignation from Wilhelm Wilderink,” said the CDU district association on Tuesday. "That's why the decision made last week to prepare an exclusion procedure will be implemented." Wilderink has not yet commented on this when asked.

Meeting downplayed in letter

The background is a report by the media company “Correctiv” about a meeting of radical right-wingers on November 25th in Potsdam, in which AfD politicians and individual members of the CDU and the “Values ​​Union” also took part. Because of taking part in the meeting, the CDU also wants to exclude a North Rhine-Westphalian party member, the deputy federal chairwoman and North Rhine-Westphalia state leader of the “Union of Values”, Simone Baum.

In a letter to acquaintances and business partners that SPIEGEL obtained, Wilderink downplayed the meeting. The aim of the meeting was not “to plan any strategies,” “but simply to raise donations that would benefit the social media projects presented,” he explains there. The audience “did not consist of a crude mix of right-wing extremists and right-wing AfDers,” as was reported. “The framework was more intellectual and liberal,” said Wilderink in the letter. The registration for the event was made by a private individual, writes Wilderink. Due to a staff shortage, he had to supervise the event and also speak to guests.

The CDU believes that its principles have been violated by participating in the meeting and that the conditions for a party exclusion procedure have been met. The CDU Brandenburg Joint District Party Court is responsible for this.

The former head of the “Identitarian Movement” in Austria, Martin Sellner, confirmed that he spoke about “remigration” at the meeting in Potsdam. When right-wing extremists use this term, they usually mean that large numbers of people of foreign origin should leave the country - even under duress and even if they have a German passport.

If Wilderink does not leave the CDU voluntarily, it is to be expected that the process could drag on over several instances. There are high hurdles for expelling someone from a party in Germany. Parties should participate in the formation of political will, and their internal order must also follow democratic principles. This means that opposition opinions within the party must also be protected.

However, the right to have a different opinion is not infinitely flexible. Parties should remain distinguishable and their members should represent their fundamental values. Essentially, it's about the question of when a member's behavior damages the party - and in case of doubt, this proof is not easy to provide.

ulz/dpa