AfD loses support in European election polls

With six weeks to go until the European elections, a poll carried out by polling institute Insa for Germany’s Bild am Sonntag paper showed that the far-right party are losing voters’ support.

The AfD got 17 percent of the vote in the poll this week –  two percentage points less than in an Insa survey for the news portal T-Online two weeks ago.

The SPD secured 16 percent, while the CDU/CSU took 29 percent of the vote. The Greens came in on 13 percent, while the FDP and the Linke each achieved four percent.

The institute surveyed a total of 1,203 people between Monday and Friday, with the maximum margin of error given as plus/minus 2.9 percentage points.

The AfD is currently facing huge criticism: An employee of lead AfD election candidate Maximilian Krah was arrested at the beginning of the week on suspicion of spying for China and Petr Bystron, second on the AfD’s list, faces allegations that he has accepted money from Russia.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Restaurant manager shot dead in Düsseldorf

A 38-year-old restaurant manager was shot dead on the street in Düsseldorf late Saturday night.

A 52-year-old man has been arrested, police and public prosecutors said on Sunday and a murder squad have begun their investigations.

Current information indicates that there was an argument between the suspect and the manager in the restaurant on Saturday night.

After the argument moved outside the building, the suspect is said to have fired several shots at the restaurant owner before going back inside.

The restaurant manager died from his injuries at the scene. Shortly afterwards, police officers arrested the armed suspect in front of the restaurant.

FDP party conference rejects return to nuclear power

Germany’s liberal FDP party spoke out against the return to nuclear power during its two-day federal party conference in Berlin.

Delegates rejected a motion from the regional associations of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with a narrow majority on Sunday.

“The goal must be to generate energy that is always available and cost-effective,” said Thomas Kemmerich, one of the proposers supporting the return to nuclear energy.

He cited Germany’s current need to import electricity from coal-fired plants and nuclear power from abroad.

READ ALSO: ‘Nuclear power is a dead horse in Germany’: Scholz rejects reopening plants

But others spoke out against the motion in the debate. “Even if we were to approve the proposal today, a nuclear power plant would not be in place for at least 20 years,” said North Rhine-Westphalian delegate Reinhard Houben, pointing out that there was no political majority in Germany for a return to nuclear power.

Other delegates noted that new nuclear power plants were not economically viable.  

Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot

The first members of a far-right group that allegedly plotted to attack the German parliament and overthrow the government will go on trial in Stuttgart on Monday.

Nine suspected participants in the coup plot will take the stand in the first set of proceedings to open in the sprawling court case, split among three courts in three cities.

The suspects are accused of having participated in the “military arm” of the organisation led by the minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss.

The alleged plot is the most high-profile recent case of far-right violence, which officials say has grown to become the biggest extremist threat in Germany.

The Reichsbürger movement includes right-wing extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Its followers generally believe in the continued existence of the pre-World War I German Reich, or empire, under a monarchy, and several groups have declared their own states.

Thuringian Linke start state election campaign with Ramelow as top candidate

Over four months before the state elections in Thuringia in central Germany, the left-wing Linke party officially named the state’s premier Bodo Ramelow as its top candidate.

The 68-year-old was elected with 99.12 percent of the vote at a meeting of representatives in Bad Blankenburg.

The Linke, which is currently in third place in the polls behind the AfD and CDU, is the last of the parties represented in the state parliament to start its election campaign by choosing the candidates for its state party list.

Germany to examine German-Chinese research projects after espionage cases

In the wake of the latest suspected cases of espionage in Germany, Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger wants to review German-Chinese cooperation projects in science.

“The arrest of three Germans for suspected espionage makes it once again abundantly clear that we cannot be naive when dealing with China,” the minister told German business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

China is becoming “more and more of a competitor and a systemic rival,” especially in science and research, she said.

This therefore necessitated an even more critical assessment of the risks and benefits of collaboration, including the review of any existing collaborations, she added.

READ ALSO: Inside Germany: Spy scandals, coalition upset and German noises

Trial against suspected Russian spy in German army begins on Monday 

Former Bundeswehr soldier Thomas H will stand trial before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court for suspected espionage for Russia from 11am on Monday.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has accused the defendant of having transmitted information obtained while working in the army procurement office in Koblenz to a Russian secret service. 

H. is specifically accused of secret service activity and betraying state secrets.