Espionage scandals are hurting Germany’s far right

On April 27th Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the co-leaders of the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, held a rally in the southern town of Donaueschingen to launch their campaign for the European Parliament’s elections in June. Their Spitzenkandidat (lead candidate) was not invited to speak. Maximilian Krah, a member of the European parliament, is in the doghouse. Last week Germany’s prosecutor-general arrested his aide Jian Guo, a German of Chinese origin, on charges of spying for China; he remains in custody. Mr Krah was known among fellow MEPs for his refusal to back resolutions critical of the Asian power. One fellow MEP called him “China’s loudest vassal”.