Julia Fürst, 43, has been head of the municipal waste disposal company Aha from Hanover since July 2025. An AfD politician was elected to its 14-member staff council – the equivalent of the works council in a municipal company – in 2024. The Lower Saxony State Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD Lower Saxony as right-wing extremist.

THE TIME: Ms. Fürst, you head the Aha regional association Hanover. How do you specifically work with the staff council member with the AfD party record?

Julia Fürst: The staff council decides democratically based on the majority principle. The other members have a clear stance against Right-wing extremism. I work well with them. For me, the man is an employee of our company who has to fulfill his contractual obligation as a driver. His existence as a politician has no place on the company premises, this is a politically neutral place.