German Rightist Party, Rising in Polls, Calls the EU a ‘Failed Project’ as It Gears Up for European Parliament Elections

VIENNA — The rightist Alternative for Germany party is calling the European Union a “failed project” in its current form in its program for next June’s European Parliament election at its party convention at the eastern city of Magdeburg on Sunday, the German news agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, reports.The text states that the EU has “completely failed” in all important areas, including its migration and climate policy, and it rejects the euro as a currency.However, the party stopped short of demanding Germany’s exit from the EU. Instead, the Alternative for Germany is calling for the EU to be re-founded as a “federation of European nations,” the German press agency reported.According to the election program, the main tasks of the new federation should be the protection of external borders against migration, strategic autonomy in security policy, and the preservation of “different identities” in Europe.Recent polls put support for the rightist party at between 19 percent and 22 percent, behind only the main conservative opposition bloc. Alternative for Germany candidates recently won elections in eastern Germany, becoming the first rightist party to lead a county administration for the first time since the 1930s, and now hold the mayoralty at a town with a population of 56,000.The program adopted at Magdeburg Sunday takes a softer line towards the EU than the draft program from June, in which the party said it would seek the “orderly dissolution of the EU.”Several party officials had previously voiced their desire for Germany to exit the EU altogether in what is called “Dexit.” However, the new program says the party supports the idea of a “Europe of fatherlands, a European community of sovereign, democratic states.”The party’s co-leader, Alice Weidel, said that the new compromise had been reached during negotiations late Sunday night, DPA reported.The convention also finalized the party’s list of 35 candidates for the European Parliament election next year.Maximilian Krah was selected last weekend as the party’s lead candidate with 65.7 percent of the votes. Mr. Krah has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019.Leading members of the party spoke out on Sunday against cooperating with the country’s main opposition conservative bloc, the Christian Democratic Union of Chancellor Merkel.Their statements stand in contrast to previous calls by Alternative for Germany leader Tino Chrupalla, who had urged the Christian Democratic Union to dismantle the “firewall” against his party.Opening the convention last week, Mr. Chrupalla pointed to his party’s prospects of winning three state elections in eastern regions next year, telling delegates that “we could take on government responsibility.”Ms. Weidel had made similar statements about the party’s aspirations to government before.Yet the deputy chairman of Alternative for Germany, Stephan Brandner, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he did “not see a reason to approach” the Christian Democratic Union, adding that the conservative party had had their chance for “much too long.”Mr. Brandner has been a member of the German Parliament since 2017 and was the Alternative for Germany front-runner candidate at the state of Thüringen for the 2017 German federal elections.The Christian Democratic Union’s main leader, Friedrich Merz, insisted that there would be no cooperation even at the local level between the two parties after his apparent suggestion that they might work together prompted criticism from fellow conservatives.

German Rightist Party, Rising in Polls, Calls the EU a ‘Failed Project’ as It Gears Up for European Parliament Elections

German Rightist Party, Rising in Polls, Calls the EU a ‘Failed Project’ as It Gears Up for European Parliament Elections

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