Germany’s AfD Commits to Mass Deportations and ‘Remigration’ Policy Ahead of February National Elections

Germany’s right-wing nationalist party, the Alternative for Germany, is vowing to quickly close the country’s borders and adopt a policy of “remigration” if it wins in the February elections. Over the course of a two-day conference in Germany, members of the AfD chose Alice Weidel as their chancellor nominee and adopted a series of right-wing proposals. While laying out AfD’s plans, Ms. Weidel said Germany would see “repatriations on a large scale” and a “total closing of Germany’s borders” within the first 100 days of taking power if her party prevails in the elections.She also committed to enacting a “remigration policy.” Critics of the policy point to a comment by a right-wing Austrian activist, Martin Sellner, who said “remigration” could mean the deportation of asylum seekers, foreigners with residency rights, and even “non-assimilated” citizens. However, supporters of the policy say it would not lead to the deportation of legal residents.Polls have found that immigration is a top issue for voters in Germany as the country struggles with an influx of migrants and concerns about the system being strained by noncitizens, as well as security concerns. Those concerns have, as in parts of the West, helped fuel calls for mass deportations.Ms. Weidel also vowed to eliminate wind farms, or “windmills of shame,” leave the European Union’s asylum system, and “throw out” gender studies professors. Additionally, she said the group would abandon the euro and return to using the Deutschmark, leave the Paris climate deal, and implement education reforms. As the AfD’s conference took place, an estimated 10,000 protesters demonstrated in the streets at Reisa, where the conference took place. Some portions of the nationalist party have been labeled an extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. One of the right-wing politicians, Bjorn Hocke, has been found guilty of using Nazi slogans. However, the AfD insists it has been demonized by the press in Germany. Ms. Weidel dismissed the demonstrators as a “left-wing mob” during her speech at the conference. Despite the claims that AfD is a fascist or extremist group, the party has seen its popularity grow. Polls have found the group running in second place, at roughly 20 percent. The group has also won some support from billionaire Elon Musk, who shared a livestream of the conference on his X account.While the AfD seems to be gaining ground, observers of German politics do not expect it to win power, as the major political parties have stated they will not join a coalition with the right-wing party.The animosity toward the AfD from left-wing groups has sparked some concerns that if it wins the election, there could be attempts to thwart it. The former European Commissioner for Digital Affairs, Thierry Breton, has been accused of suggesting the European Union could try to annul Germany’s election results if the right-wing party wins. A clip from an interview Mr. Breton did with French broadcaster BFMTV/RMC went viral as he appeared to float the idea, saying, “We did it in Romania, and we will obviously do it in Germany if necessary.”The comment appeared to be a reference to Romania’s Constitutional Court’s decision to overturn results from the first round of its presidential election in December due to allegations that Russian interference helped the right-wing candidate, Calin Georgescu, win.Critics of the decision claim the European Union was influential in the decision to overturn the election results.Mr. Breton’s comments were interpreted on social media as suggesting something similar could happen in Germany if AfD wins. For his part, Mr. Breton insists he was talking about forcing countries to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, which requires countries to crack down on illegal content, not overturning an election. He said the EU has “NO mechanism to nullify any election.”

Germany’s AfD Commits to Mass Deportations and ‘Remigration’ Policy Ahead of February National Elections

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