German carmaker BMW has withdrawn its offer to provide a car to the new speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, Tobias Rausch, from the far-right AfD party. The parliament’s administration confirmed to German newspaper Die Zeit that BMW’s Munich headquarters withdrew the offer on October 6. As a result, Rausch could be left without an official car if an alternative is not found by the end of his current contract. BMW declined to comment on the reasons for the withdrawal.
The case comes at a time when BMW CEO Milan Nedeljkovic, 57, has been speaking out publicly about political developments in Germany. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, he said that right-wing populism and nationalism are “poison” for an open economy that depends on international trade. According to him, those who promote closure and isolation are not acting in the interests of the German economy.
The Speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt Parliament has an official car with a driver at his disposal. Rausch is currently using the car of his predecessor from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a BMW 7 Series.
However, the car has been in use for nine months and has covered more than 50 kilometers. The lease expires in November, which means Rausch could be left without an official car if parliament does not provide another one by then. According to the parliament administration, the offer withdrawn by BMW was the only one submitted by the major German car manufacturers.