DW/ Dimitra Kyranoudis, Berlin

Turmoil in the German political system is permanent. In less than two months, two new parties emerge at the ends of the political spectrum.

After the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance for “Justice and Reason” on the far left, now comes the Union of Values, which until now has been a kind of informal wing of the CDU/CSU Christian Union.

It is a new party, which describes itself as “conservative and liberal”, as its future president and former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maassen announced on Saturday from Erfurt.

A controversial figure in Germany, who has been targeted several times in the past for dangerous far-right tendencies and connections incompatible with his institutional role.

So far, the Union of Values ​​lists about 4,000 members, among them also active MPs of the Christian Democrats and Christian Socialists, who will soon have to leave these parties because a double participation would be incompatible.

Legal aspects aside, Christian Democratic leader Friedrich Merz has distanced himself from the “Union of Values”, which has long leaned squarely to the far right.

A highlight was the Correctiv investigative network’s recent journalistic revelations about the far-right conspiracy meeting in Potsdam and plans for mass deportations of immigrants. In addition to members of the far-right Alternative for Germany and members of the Union of Values, they participated there.

The Union of Values ​​plans to enter all three electoral contests in the states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in the autumn of 2024. According to a first poll by the institute Insa, around 15% of voters would consider voting for their party. Maasen.