The right-wing extremist German political bloc Alternative for Germany (AfD) is negotiating with Austrian extremists who support the idea of ​​"resettlement" but denies supporting mass deportations of foreigners. Fact-checking platform Corrective reports that AfD representatives, new Nazis and businessmen met in November in Potsdam, which borders Berlin, to discuss a plan to deport foreigners from Germany.

According to Corrective, Austrian Identity Movement co-founder Martin Sellner has proposed a project to return an estimated two million people, including refugees and underintegrated German citizens, to North Africa.

Sellner confirmed to Agence France-Presse his participation in the event, where he presented his book and vision of "resettlement", a term often used in anti-immigrant circles in Europe.

The meeting was attended by the personal representative of AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, Roland Hartwig, MP Gerit Hoy and the leader of the AfD faction in Saxony, Ulrich Siegmund.

The AfD explained in an email to France-Presse that Hartwig “presented simply a social network project” at the meeting.

The party added that Hartwig did not present political strategies and did not convey Sellner's ideas on migration policy to the party. According to them, he did not know about these ideas in advance. The meeting was organized by the former owner of the German bakery chain Bakwerk, Hans-Christian Lemmer, with the participation of far-right Gerno Moehrig.

German Interior Minister Nancy Feiser said that such an ideology is directed against the foundations of democracy.

"Human dignity is inviolable, the dignity of any person", she stressed.

The AfD, overseen by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, is gaining popularity in the polls.

In recent months, the party has benefited from a sense of uncertainty among the population due to a new wave of migrants into the country and ongoing divisions between the three parties forming the coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.