The decision to invite members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to one of its major political events has caused Germany’s most powerful family business group to change its position.
Following a barrage of criticism from members and the withdrawal of multiple businesses, the Family Business Association (Der Familienunternehmer) declared on Sunday that the action was an error. President Marie-Christine Ostermann said in a statement released following an internal committee meeting, “The opposite of what we intended has happened.
The group had claimed last week that interacting with the AfD directly would allow business owners to criticize the party on what they regard as its faulty, anti-market ideas. At the time, Albrecht von der Hagen, the general director of the association, stated that “the firewall against the AfD has achieved nothing. We are saying goodbye to firewalls.
The scandal also sparked a broader debate about Germany’s so-called firewall against the AfD a commitment by German parties, companies, and other society players to effectively ban out the AfD owing to their unconstitutional and offensive practices.
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