"The Alternative for Germany"

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Alternativa for Germany (AfD) is a far-right political party in Germany founded on 6 February 2013. As a result of the elections on September 24, 2017, it became the third largest party in the Bundestag.

The party has been described as German nationalist, right-wing populist and Eurosceptic. Since 2015, the AfD has been more open to working with far-right groups like PEGIDA. Parts of the Alternative have racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and xenophobic tendencies associated with far-right movements such as neo-Nazism and identity. From the end of February 2021, the Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution of Germany can monitor the party.

The AfD plans to nominate a candidate for the post of federal chancellor for the first time in the upcoming elections to the Bundestag, party co-chairwoman Alice Weidel said. In an interview with German television on Wednesday, June 21, Weidel said that her party will make a decision at the federal congress.

Ground
In September 2012, a political group called “Wahlternative 2013” emerged from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany to counter the German government’s policy towards the eurozone crisis. Their manifesto was endorsed by a number of prominent economists, journalists and business executives. The group criticized the eurozone as an area unsuitable for a monetary union. The group also said the Eurogroup governance crisis was reducing the incomes of ordinary people in the south of the eurozone and undermining basic principles of democratic governance. After a brief and unsuccessful alliance with the Free Voters group, the group decided in February 2013 to form a new party to run in the 2013 federal election.

The founding congress of the Alternative for Germany was held in Berlin on April 14, 2013. Its leader was the “Troika” from economics professor Bernd Lucke, entrepreneur Frauke Petry and journalist Konrad Adam. Professor Irina Smirnova, who lives in Germany, was also elected to the leadership.

Goals

The main goal of the Eurosceptic Party is to change the policy of saving the euro and strictly implement the Maastricht criteria, primarily a revision of the German policy of guaranteeing debt obligations in connection with the rescue of the financial systems of some lagging countries of the Eurozone under the European Stability Mechanism. As an extreme measure of influence, the revival of the national German currency is declared: the German mark (DM). The AfD exploits the discontent with the EU that exists both in Germany and elsewhere in the EU. At one time, the reason for criticism of the current German authorities from the “Alternative for Germany” was the signing of Angela Merkel’s package of financial assistance to the Republic of Cyprus. Professor Bernd Lucke said in an interview that “the single currency is not only not helping Europe out of the crisis, it is gradually destroying the economy of the continent.” At the same time, the AfD does not advocate the dissolution of the European Union (calling this organization useful for the EU)