BERLIN, Jan  10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Officials from Germany's far-right AfD
attended a meeting with an Austrian extremist leader, the party confirmed
Wednesday, but denied any plans to adopt a proposal for mass deportations of
immigrants reportedly discussed at the talks.

Citing undercover research, investigative media outlet Correctiv had
reported that Martin Sellner, who leads the white pride Identitarian Movement
in Austria, had presented a plan to "reverse the inward migration of
foreigners", and remove migrants and asylum seekers instead.

He also reportedly suggested that when the AfD came into power, the biggest
"problem" for the party would be the expulsion of "non assimilated citizens".

The meeting near Potsdam had gathered politicians, lawyers and doctors
alike, according to Correctiv.

Sellner confirmed his presence at the talks, telling AFP, "it was the end
of November and I presented my book and the Identitarian concept of remigration
there".
The Austrian added that his "concept targeted migrants who are not
assimilated, or who culturally, economically and criminally weigh on society".

The Identitarian movement subscribes to the "great replacement" conspiracy
theory claiming a plot by non-white migrants to replace Europe's "native" white
population, something that the nationalist extremists want to stop.

The AfD said Roland Hartwig, who is an aide of co-leader Alice Weidel, had
presented a social media project at the meeting.

But the far-right group said Hartwig did not "bring Mr Sellner's ideas on
migration policies" into the party, and added that it "would not change its
immigration policies based on the individual ideas of a speaker at the meeting".

According to Correctiv, one of the AfD participants had claimed the party
was no longer opposed to dual citizenship, as "you can then take away the
German one, and they'd still have one".

Created in 2013 as an anti-euro outfit before morphing into an
anti-immigration party, the AfD entered parliament for the first time in 2017
on the back of discontent over a huge influx of migrants, many fleeing wars in
Syria and Iraq.

Support for the party slid to around 10 percent in the 2021 election, but
it has since regained ground as Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition struggles
with an energy crisis, massive inflation and an ailing economy in the wake of
Russia's war on Ukraine.

Concerns have also grown over the appeal of the party ahead of regional
elections expected this autumn in the states of Thuringia, Saxony and
Brandenburg, where support for the far-right party has traditionally been
strongest.

A spokeswoman from Germany's interior ministry declined comment on the
Correctiv report, but underlined that the domestic intelligence agency was
following "further developments of the AfD very closely".