Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said the victory of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections was something to emulate.
“I look at the result in France with admiration and respect,” Weidel said on Sunday on the sidelines of the AfD congress in Essen in West Germany. “I think it’s great that Marine Le Pen has managed to achieve such a great result. And of course he is also a role model for the AfD.”
Relations between Weidel and Le Pen have been strained since the French right-wing politician severed ties with the AfD ahead of European Parliament elections earlier this month. The AfD’s leading candidate, Maximilian Krah, told an Italian newspaper that not all members of the Nazi SS paramilitary organization were criminals, comments that prompted Le Pen to break with the German group.
