Right-wing networks | Because of the firewall

In action for an increasingly inhumane world: Stephan Kooths, chairman of the Hayek Society, with his idol Javier Milei Photo: dpa/Daniel Bockwoldt The warnings about the socialization of large real estate groups are currently booming in Berlin in view of possible red-green-red coalition negotiations. For example, Luka Mucic, boss of Vonovia, the "leading candidate" for the planned socialization, worries in the "Handelsblatt" on October 13th about the negative consequences of expropriations for the housing market. As evidence, he cites a study by the "renowned" Institute for the World Economy (IfW) in Kiel, which was carried out by the director of the IfW's economic and growth research group, Prof. Dr. Stefan Kooths, presented to the press on September 29th. The study was commissioned by the economic initiative “Berlin thinks ahead”: an association of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Berlin Chamber of Crafts, the Berlin-Brandenburg business associations (UVB) and the Berlin Merchants and Industrialists Association (VBKI).

In the study, Kooths estimates the costs of socialization at around 40 billion euros, because he uses the estimated market value of the real estate to be socialized as a basis. This may surprise experts, because since the Senate estimated the market value in 2018 with a maximum amount of 36 billion euros, numerous reports and studies have ruled out that compensation would be paid at market values ​​in the event of socialization in accordance with Article 15 of the Basic Law.

The expert commission appointed by the Berlin Senate under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Herta Däubler-Gmelin came to the conclusion in 2023 that in the event of expropriation according to Article 15 of the Basic Law, compensation could be paid below the market value. In its study from September 25th, the trade union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation based the compensation amount on the earnings values ​​of the real estate portfolio, which it puts at around 13.5 billion euros. Conclusion: The socialization of housing not only makes sense from a socio-political point of view, but can also be made economically and fiscally sustainable.

Vonovia boss Mucic also warns in an interview with “Handelsblatt” that we have to work against the “strengthening of the political fringes”. However, the IfW study on which it is based is carried out by someone who is on this very “political fringe”: Stefan Kooths is chairman of the board of the “Friedrich August von Hayek Society,” founded in 1998, which refers to the Austrian school of economics. She wants to shrink the state and strengthen the market. In 2024, the Hayek Society honored the right-wing libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei with a medal. At that time, Kooths gave a “touching” eulogy for the man with the chainsaw.

The IfW is one of the five economic institutes that advise the federal government with their joint diagnosis.

The Hayek Society is a collection of market radicals, anti-democrats, climate deniers and extreme right-wingers. In 2015, the first split occurred in the society of these market apologists after the AfD had virtually infiltrated and used the open flank to expand its affiliation with the far right. Numerous well-known liberals, including Christian Lindner (FDP), left society because they did not want to witness this reactionary development. The AfD's presence again led to a wave of departures in 2021, but CEO Kooths failed to distinguish himself from the far right.

In order to defuse the blazing conflict and take the AfD out of the field of fire, Alice Weidel left the company in 2021; not so Beatrix von Storch and other AfD politicians. Meanwhile, the AfD is active in the local Hayek associations and clubs that are promoted by the society, such as the Hayek Association in Dresden.

Another highlight on the networks that exist here: There are no members of the AfD on the board of the Hayek Society, but there are a number of people who open the door to the field, including many (former) members of the FDP's right-wing wing. The company's deputy chairman and general counsel, Carlos Gebauer (FDP), was invited as an expert by the AfD to the study committee on Corona in 2026. In 2025, Gebauer and Kooths co-founded the “Javier Milei Institute,” which is part of the Hayek Society and wants to enforce the chainsaw policy in Germany and Europe. Gebauer publishes in relevant legal publications such as “peculiarly free” and “Axis of Good”. Kooths and other Hayek board members are also members of the “Ludwig von Mises Institute Germany,” which represents anarcho-capitalist approaches and maintains contacts with the right-wing libertarian wing of the US Republicans.

The treasurer of the Hayek Society, Hendrik Hagedorn, also works in the AfD's circle. He works as an economist at the AfD-affiliated MIWI Institute for Market Integration and Economic Policy. In this role, he was invited by the AfD to an expert hearing in the Bavarian state parliament in 2024. Hagedorn is also a guest researcher at the “Institute for Conservative Economic Policy” (IKW). The founder and managing director of the IKW is Jurij C. Kofner, a member of the AfD, the party's former state parliament candidate in Bavaria and spokesman for its state committee on finance and taxes. Kofner is also chief economist and de facto head of MIWI and a significant player in international networking. In 2023 and 2025 he took part in meetings of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which comes from the US Republican environment, in Hungary. In its brochure "Russia's influence on German internal security" from 2023, the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation identifies Kofner as a central actor in Russian influence via right-wing extremist networks.

The Hayek Society is now inviting people to the “Forum Freedom 2026” conference in Berlin on October 24th. Politicians from the CDU, FDP, AfD, “Team Freiheit” and also private city apologists will discuss the state of the rule of law, public broadcasting, AI and deregulation. The interface between market radicalism and the extreme right is consciously established and maintained here. Stefan Kooths protects this environment. As a radical deregulator, he favors cryptocurrencies because the euro is too weak and Bitcoin is needed. The shadow economy will thank him - as will profiteers like Trump and Milei.

Incidentally, the Kiel IfW is one of the five central economic institutes that are intended to advise the federal government and inform society with their joint diagnosis. It receives millions in institutional funding as part of the “Joint Science Conference” (GWK). The federal government should answer why they keep a research director for economics who is deeply embedded in right-wing libertarian and extreme right-wing circles, which are teeming with AfD members. And last but not least: To call Professor Kooths' bold theses science at all is risky. In many cases they are simply right-wing propaganda.

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