Lars Patrick Berg has been a member of the AfD since March 2013 and sits in the European Parliament for the party. However, he is not satisfied with the development of the AfD and is now drawing consequences.
Berg leaves the party. The 55-year-old is therefore no longer a member of the right-wing ID group in the EU Parliament, as confirmed by the group on Tuesday. Previously, the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” had reported on the personnel.
As Berg told the paper, he no longer sees any basis for “continuing to fight for a conservative, bourgeois AfD”. He wanted to stick to his mandate as a non-attached member. “Even if this will undoubtedly lead to discussions with the AfD,” he is quoted by the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.
AfD is moving in the wrong direction
Accordingly, Berg made his decision based on the results of the AfD party congress in Dresden on 10 and 11 April. He called the call to leave the EU, to “Dexit”, “foolish”. While the EU needs urgent reforms, it remains “our best vehicle for achieving security and prosperity”. This is particularly true where the protection of Germany’s external security and trade relations is concerned.
According to the paper, Berg also criticized “the support of the party congress for certain members of the youth organization”. In sum, such decisions underpinned the party’s drift towards the protest movement. This is the “wrong direction”.
Berg was a member of the State Parliament in Baden-Württemberg from 2016 to 2019. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2019. With his resignation, the AfD delegation in Brussels still has eleven deputies.
