A ferment not seen for many years – In Germany, former secret service director Hans-Georg Maassen has announced his intention to leave the CDU and set up his own party, even further to the right than the conservatives. ‘We are talking to everyone, from left to right’ he said in a recent interview. A wink to the left of Sahra Wagenknecht and to the right of the AfD, but still on different positions from theirs: no paternalism, less state. The test will be this year’s elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia

Does Maaßen really want to found his own party?
Yes, Hans-Georg Maaßen is currently Chairman of the Werteunion. This is an association that was founded in 2017. It primarily channels the protest of many long-standing CDU members against the then Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to its own statements, the Werteunion criticises, for example, "mass migration" and "hysterical climate policy".
The Werteunion is planning a members' meeting in Erfurt on 20 January. According to information from ZDFheute, a decision will be made there about transferring the naming rights to a new party to be founded called Werteunion.

Does Maaßen want to run in East Germany?
That is the plan. New state parliaments will be elected in Saxony and Thuringia on 1 September and in Brandenburg on 22 September. Hans-Georg Maaßen says:
The party could already run in the upcoming East German state elections.

Whether this will actually happen remains to be seen. This is because the party would have to be founded successfully and there would have to be corresponding structures at state level. And that is time-consuming, as the "Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance" shows. However, according to its own information, the Werteunion already has 16 state associations, including in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia.

Could it form a coalition with the AfD?
Conceivable. Maaßen himself says that he would work with all parties that are "prepared for a political turnaround in Germany". A clear rejection of an alliance with the AfD sounds different.
Political scientist Karl-Rudolf Korte also believes this is possible. He sees a possible "Maaßen party" as "a competitor in the centre-right and radical right-wing camp". He tells ZDFheute: A coalition with the AfD would then also be conceivable.

What chances of success would a Maaßen party have?
That's difficult to say at the moment. The Werteunion itself is not particularly large; according to its own figures, it has around 4,000 members. In order to enter an East German state parliament, the Werteunion would have to break the 5 per cent barrier from a standing start.
Karl-Rudolf Korte assumes that a "Maaßen party" would primarily reduce the AfD's voter base. In other words, the Werteunion could be an alternative to the AfD. Korte believes that a possible majority of AfD and Werteunion, which would be enough for a coalition, is rather unlikely at the moment: Would they be bigger together than the AfD alone? Probably not.

What does this mean for the CDU?
The possible formation of a new Maaßen party is good news for the CDU. After all, the CDU has been trying to exclude Maaßen for some time. This attempt recently failed. However, if the Werteunion does indeed become its own party, Maaßen's CDU membership would be "irrelevant".
CDU leader Friedrich Merz would therefore be rid of the Maaßen problem. However, the question of whether the Union of Values could cost the CDU votes remains open.

Why is Maaßen controversial?
Hans-Georg Maaßen was once President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. However, his conduct in office was criticised. Nowadays, he attracts attention with conspiracy theory language and anti-Semitic codes.
He was the only German speaker at the international ultra-right-wing conference in Budapest in May this year. In a speech to wind power opponents, he railed against a supposed "climate sect". Critics accuse Maaßen of fishing on the fringes of the right.