Scholz’s far-right rival puts Germany’s EU exit on the ballot
Baku, December 19, AZERTAC
Alice Weidel, the long-shot chancellor candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany, slammed the European Union for destroying the country’s auto industry and proposed winding back the bloc to a free-trade zone, Bloomberg reported.
"What we need to have is free trade among the European countries, but we don’t need all the bureaucracy,” co-leader of the second-strongest party in German polls said in Berlin. The EU’s "socialist policy making” has "destroyed the market mechanism in Europe.”
As an example, Weidel — the AfD’s first-ever candidate for chancellor — cited Germany’s automotive sector, which she said had been "ripped off” by an EU ban on the sale of new combustion-engine vehicles by 2035.
"We don’t need all of these bureaucrats who have no clue what they’re doing and destroying our foundation in the European Union," Weidel said. "We don’t see that the European Union in its current state is an institution that is working well.”
In its campaign platform for the Feb. 23 snap election, the AfD calls for a German exit from the EU and the euro zone, moves that would mark a major shift in German policy and unwind decades of political and economic integration. The party also calls for a crackdown on undocumented migrants, including expelling hundreds of thousands of people.
The Germany First appeal has resonated with many voters unsettled by the country’s sputtering economy. The anti-immigration party trails only the Christian Democrat-led conservative opposition and is ahead of all ruling parties including Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.
In the interview, which was recorded on Wednesday, Weidel pushed back against labeling the party as "far right,” calling it "libertarian” and "conservative.”
Three state chapters in the former communist east are classified as extremist and are under surveillance by Germany’s domestic intelligence service. The party says Islam doesn’t belong in the country, and former leader Alexander Gauland has called the Nazi period a mere blemish on Germany’s long history.
Weidel said that her main priorities, if elected, would be border control, lowering taxes and reviving nuclear power after Germany shut down its last plants in 2023.
The policies though have little chance of being implemented since all other parties have ruled out a coalition with the AfD. Still, the party has had a major influence on the political debate in Germany, notably pushing for a harder line on migration.
The 45-year-old Weidel, who has co-chaired the AfD with Tino Chrupalla since 2021, called for reforms of EU treaties that allow member states to veto decisions by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. She also said that countries should be allowed to exit the EU, with the default being a free-trade partnership rather than going through the contortions that accompanied the U.K.’s Brexit negotiations.
The background to the end of the war is the prospect for restarting the delivery of cheap energy from Russia, most notably natural gas.
The AfD, which is skeptical of man-made climate change, is also in favor of burning coal to generate power over an expansion of renewable sources.
Weidel played down concerns that Trump will levy tariffs against German carmakers. Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz Group have built factories in the United States to tap demand from American consumers.
Germany’s carmakers "are already in the U.S.,” she said. "And you know why? Because of high energy prices here in Germany.”
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