The German far-right AfD declared during the kick-off of its European election campaign that it aimed to break up the EU as it currently exists and replace it with a confederation of nation-states with limited power.
“The AfD wants to strengthen our national sovereignty and limit the power of the EU to what is necessary and advantageous,” stated Marc Jongen, the party’s candidate and a key figure in shaping the party’s viewpoint, in an interview with Euractiv.
Jongen believes that the EU is becoming a “European superstate,” which “would make Germany the permanent paymaster of Europe and would no longer be a democracy.”
The party has abandoned the notion that Germany should leave the EU. Instead, they promote their new plan to “re-think Europe” and transform it into a “Confederation of European Nations.”
According to their election program, the AfD seeks to team up against the “continuous erosion of the sovereignty of nation states” with the Identity & Democracy group, composed of the French far-right party, Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, and Italy’s Lega.
The main goal is to maintain the EU internal market, which is advantageous for Germany, while eliminating the majority of integration initiatives. Their campaign promises to replace the current EU with a new European economic and interest community that will not adhere to “the EU’s drive for more centralization and paternalism.”
The party’s medium-term goal is to “abolish the undemocratically elected EU Parliament,” primarily “driven by its anti-European stance upon its creation.” The Council should have legislative authority and be “bound by the decisions of the national parliaments in their voting behavior.” until the EU is reorganized into the Confederation of Nation States that they have proposed.
But resistance to immigration, gender regulations, and climate change policies took center stage at the summit, with the structural disintegration of the EU coming in second.
The far-right party favors European coordination and shared costs of “protection” of external borders for a “Fortress of Europe,” even as it wants to restore “the self-determination of EU member states in asylum and immigration policy.”
Their basic stance against the euro remains at the center of the AfD’s monetary policy, which they portray as “failed.”
The German far-right also repeated pro-Russian statements. The EU candidates, led by Maximilian Krah, want Germany to shift its foreign policy toward China and Russia in return for increased US “sovereignty” over the country. “We plan to expand Germany’s relations with the Eurasian Economic Union and lift the economic sanctions against Russia.” They did not demand Russia stop the war against Ukraine, which was the reason for the West to impose sanctions against Moscow.
The Belt and Road Initiative in China has a lot of support: “Germany’s proactive participation in the AfD is committed to helping shape the program on an equal basis.”
This event occurred on April 27 in the midst of multiple scandals involving the AfD’s EU candidates and the party as a whole. Fears of further reputational damage forced leading candidate Maximillian Krah to stay away after his aide’s arrest on suspicion of spying for China and the revelation that he was also under investigation.
Furthermore, the pro-Russian “Voice of Europe” platform, which is at the center of the current scandal surrounding Russian meddling in European elections, identified Maximillian Krah as one of its supporters.
Throughout the conference, the AfD representatives refuted the accusations of serving both Chinese and Russian interests, citing political motivation and a “fear of the AfD.”
