Saxony-Anhalt: BMW cancels company car offer for AfD state parliament president – Rausch speaks of “personal disappointment”

Berlin. The car manufacturer BMW has withdrawn its offer to lease a company car for the President of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt had previously elected AfD MP Tobias Rausch as parliamentary speaker. “Zeit” first reported.

Accordingly, BMW no longer wanted to offer the AfD man a company car after his election on October 6th. Rausch is the first state parliament president of the party, which is sometimes classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The state government and state parliament's company car fleet includes several vehicles, most of which come from BMW. As a rule, the company cars are not personally assigned and are shared by several politicians and civil servants.

However, a few, including the president's vehicle, are personified. When asked, the BMW Group stated that it generally does not comment on individual customer relationships.

Rausch reacted with sharp criticism. Rausch wrote in an open letter to the car manufacturer's board of directors that it was with great surprise and personal disappointment that BMW had withdrawn the leasing offer it had already made. “Should a person’s political convictions decide in the future whether a German company has business relationships with them?” asks Rausch in the letter.