Is CPAC Germany on the way?

While the AfD’s federal leadership and the foreign policy working group of the AfD’s Bundestag caucus in Berlin were debating the right course for foreign policy, two meetings of the U.S.-dominated Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) took place in March: one in Hungary and one in the U.S. itself.

The event in Budapest on March 21 can safely be chalked up as international campaign support for Viktor Orbán, who has found himself in a tight spot. The following week, CPAC took place in Dallas, Texas. This year’s annual showcase of the MAGA movement for its “King” Donald Trump was significantly smaller and less prominent than in previous years, given the domestic and foreign policy situation, as correspondents on the ground reported (for example, Die Zeit).

What went unnoticed was the fact that, for the first time in Dallas, two participants were officially introduced as “CPAC Germany”: Arian Aghashahi and George Weinberg. We had already speculated in January whether a MAGA movement conference in Berlin was to be expected this year or next. A look at these two individuals, who are mostly unknown in Germany, might help resolve this speculation. So here is some background information.

Who is Arian Aghashahi?

The young, 28-year-old Arian Aghashahi has already appeared at international events on several occasions, most recently as a co-organizer of the Berlin Campaign Conference 2025. Aghashahi worked for a total of three years at the campaign firm The Republic, by Armin Petschner-Multari (CSU). According to his own statements, he joined the firm in early 2023 initially as a “Strategy Consultant” and served as Head of Strategy for the past two years until the end of January 2026. In this capacity, Aghashahi, for example, participated in a meeting with the Heritage Foundation at the German Bundestag in January 2025.

A Textbook Career in Christian Democratic Circles

On the surface, everything in Aghashahi’s résumé reads like a textbook career in Christian Democratic circles: he studied law at institutions including the Free University of Berlin and held various positions in the field, some of them short-term. Then came a stint of more than three years working for a CDU/CSU member of the German Bundestag. This included a two-year mentorship with Jens Spahn, the current parliamentary group leader of the Union, arranged through the “Geh deinen Weg” scholarship program of the Deutschlandstiftung Integration, which is aimed at “young people with a migration background on their career path.”

The fact that Spahn is mentoring the young up-and-coming politician fits the image of the prominent far-right CDU figure, who has repeatedly drawn attention for his close ties to U.S. Republicans and his sympathies for Trump. The scholarship recipient himself now “is ashamed” of having been part of the integration program, as he admitted in a guest column in Junge Freiheit. Until recently, Aghashahi was listed online as a member of the CDU’s Small Business and Economic Union (MIT) and head of the Young Union’s Integration Working Group in Hamm (North Rhine-Westphalia), a recipient of a Konrad Adenauer Foundation scholarship, a member of the Catholic German Student Association (KDStV) Bavaria Berlin, etc.

Aghashahi: From the Union to the AfD Camp

But now, as of February 2026, Aghashahi has switched party camps—at least professionally. Since then, he has served as “Managing Director” of the Sovereignty Foundation. This is the European foundation of the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) faction in the European Parliament, the faction led by the AfD. The ESN had only established its own foundation in September 2025. Aghashahi also represented the foundation before the EU Committee on Constitutional Affairs as early as mid-March.

Appearing in Dallas as CPAC Germany at this time is likely no coincidence. As an ESN representative, Aghashahi represents those MAGA-aligned parties that are openly supported by Trump and his administration. It is conceivable that the MAGA movement and CPAC could provide structural and financial support to the AfD in the future through increasingly close networks. If the ESN Foundation in Brussels becomes an official partner of the U.S. movement, conferences could be the next possible step.

Switch to the AfD camp

With Aghashahi, the ESN has gained a staff member who, despite his age, likely has more experience in networking and event organization on the international stage than the average AfD member of the European Parliament. Aghashahi is currently also a Fellow at the Orbán-aligned Danube Institute in Budapest and a contributor to the online publication Hungarian Conservative, meaning he also has ties to Hungary. He is also a “Senior Advisor” at the TRENDS Research and Advisory Group, a government-affiliated network for international policy based in the United Arab Emirates. The rather unassuming German office in Berlin is headed by Mohammed Abu Ghazleh, with Urs Unkauf serving as another staff member. Political consultant and “Russia expert” Unkauf has repeatedly drawn attention in the past in the context of pro-Russian activities. Added to this are Aghashahi’s engagements with the German Hayek Society, where he will appear in May as a representative of the ESN Foundation, training sessions at the Leadership Institute, the Tholos Foundation, and so on.

Who is George Weinberg?

The second representative for CPAC Germany is also no stranger, though not necessarily a front-row figure. Born in 1948, George Weinberg has a career as an entrepreneur behind him that took him from the U.S. to Germany. In 2025, Weinberg was a guest at CPAC in Poland, where he participated in a panel alongside Tomasz Froelich of the AfD and Hans-Georg Maaßen, among others. In Germany, Weinberg has become known in recent years for his work with Republicans Overseas Germany, where he serves as chairman. The organization connects members and supporters of the Republican Party outside the U.S.

Among Weinberg’s staff is—what a surprise—Aghashahi, who serves as a senior advisor there and, conveniently, can help raise Weinberg’s profile with an interview in Hungarian Conservative. Weinberg attempts, with varying degrees of success, to explain the Trump administration’s modus operandi to the German public in the press and on television. Trump was forced to attack Iran, Weinberg claimed in March in the Catholic fundamentalist newspaper Die Tagespost. Following Zohran Mamdani’s election victory in New York, he warned on Welt TV of conditions akin to those in the former GDR.

Weinberg and Aghashahi could play important roles for CPAC in establishing structures in Germany to support the AfD or circles close to it. Since the start of Trump’s second term, the CPAC conferences—and especially their regional offshoots—have been direct and barely veiled campaign rallies for supporters of MAGA politics worldwide. They are linked to overt interventions in ongoing election campaigns and the establishment of networks aligned with the U.S. Republicans, their think tanks, and their interests. The next CPAC is scheduled for July in the UK, shortly before the upcoming elections to the British House of Commons. Such a scenario could soon become a reality in Germany as well.

Redacción: Ulli Jentsch