Values Union

The Values Union (WerteUnion) is a German party founded on February 17, 2024 by transforming a seven-year-old registered association with the same name. According to its own information, the Values Union had around 4,000 members in 2022; with about 3,000 also being the members of the CDU. In early 2024, the Values Union positioned itself as a "conservative-liberal" middle ground between the centre-right CDU/CSU and far-right AfD.

History
The Values Union was founded in 2017 and mostly included the CDU members seeking to reestablish their party's conservative roots. The formation was motivated by the same shift to the right in the CDU that eventually forced Merkel out of the leadership, due to her flirting with Keynesianism and social democracy to the detriment of the "tough market radicalism of the CDU/CSU" and associated electorate losses to the right-wing, but socially acceptable, "professors' party" (Alternative for Germany).

The CDU's executive committee did not recognize the Values Union as a party subdivision. The critics accused the Values Union of being close to the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The group, which was quite small at the time, argued against Angela Merkel's approaches to the Euro-Rettungsschirm and the 2015 European migrant crisis. One of the founders, Hans-Georg Maaßen, refused to rule out potential coalitions with AfD in the medium-term. The 2019 resolution of the presidium and executive committee of the CDU related to the murder of Walter Lübcke indirectly accused Maaßen and the Values Union of being complicit: "Anyone who supports the AfD must know that they are poisoning the social climate and brutalizing the political discourse". At the time statements by the CDU leadership could have been interpreted as supporting expulsion of Maaßen from the party.

The Values Union has been described as Germany's Tea Party. Prior to turning into a party, the Values Union had no official party affiliation and its role within the CDU/CSU was highly controversial. It has around 4,000 official members. In the 2018 leadership election the Values Union supported Friedrich Merz.

The federal leadership of the CDU initiated expulsion of Maaßen in February of 2023.

The deputy federal chairwoman and North Rhine-Westphalia state leader of the Values Union, Simone Baum, took part in a secret networking meeting between the AfD and other right-wing extremists. At the meeting, the right-wing extremist participants discussed how an expulsion or "remigration" of migrants and people who think differently politically in Germany would be possible. The CDU initiated party expulsion proceedings against Baum and the city of Cologne terminated her employment with immediate effect, likewise due to her participation at the secret meeting.

Forming a new party
In the beginning of 2024, Maaßen announced a vote among the association members in order to turn the Values Union into a political party that will take an anti-immigration course. At a general meeting of the Values Union on January 20, 2024 in Erfurt, its members voted to form a new party with a plan to participate in the upcoming September 2024 regional elections in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg.

Maaßen had said earlier that the new party will cooperate with all parties that support its program and "are ready for a change in policy in Germany."

Party
The "figurehead" and party chairman is the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen. Maaßen, since January 2024, has been monitored by his former colleagues.

Shortly after the party was founded, the dispute over direction and power struggles began. Maaßen said that he would ideally like to form a coalition with the CDU, which he called the "premium partner" for the Values Union. Maaßen also said he was happy about the possible demise of the AfD. This caused discord within the party. The prominent entrepreneur Markus Krall and ex-AfD Max Otte were involved in founding the party. After less than a month they announced their resignation. Both criticized the party's unclear program and political direction and its protagonists' overconfidence. The two complained that the party's distance to the AfD was too great.

Political views
Politically, observers place the party between the CDU and the AfD. The WU consciously avoids refusing to cooperate with the AfD.

Structure
Federal presidency:
 * Alexander Mitsch (March 2017 – May 2021)
 * Max Otte (May 2021 – January 2022), (partys: former CDU, former Values Union, chair of AfD-foundation)
 * Hans-Georg Maaßen (since January 2023), former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (partys: former CDU, now Values Union)

Former members:
 * Alexander Mitsch, co-founder and first federal president of Values Union
 * Werner Josef Patzelt, political scientist and university professor