The 60-year-old, who was elected co-leader of the party in 2015, said he wants to keep his job in the European Parliament.

Meuthen has long been at odds with much of the rest of the AfD. In the past two years, the economist repeatedly argued for his party to take a more moderate course.

In doing so, he made enemies, especially in the far-right movement around Thuringia’s regional leader Björn Höcke.

Meuthen has recently struggled to get support for his positions in the wider party. In August, for example, he failed in an attempt to have Matthias Helferich, an AfD candidate for the Bundestag in North Rhine Westphalia, expelled.

Meuthen was elected to the leadership of the anti-immigration group in the summer of 2015 as one of two co-chairs. At the time it was alongside Frauke Petry, who left the party two years later.

His relationship with current party co-leader Tino Chrupalla was said to be difficult practically from the beginning. Chrupalla is now sole leader of the party.