As the Alternative for Germany’s influence grows, both domestically and abroad, the party is reevaluating its stance on Europe. Following a historic win in Saxony-Anhalt’s regional election in September, the AfD is now closer than ever to joining the national government before the decade’s end. This prospect has sparked a debate about balancing the party’s anti-establishment image with the need to be seen as a viable partner for potential allies, both within Germany and internationally.
Evolution from Euro Critic to European Parliament
The AfD was founded in 2013, initially opposing the eurozone’s handling of bailouts for heavily indebted member states. Over time, the party expanded its criticism to the European Union as a whole, gaining significant traction with its stance against immigration. Critics, including the domestic intelligence agency, argue that this stance borders on supremacism and xenophobia, echoing the darker aspects of Germany’s past.
However, the AfD denies allegations of extremism, with many members arguing that the increasing acceptance of radical right-wing views across Europe, coupled with the growing influence of like-minded parties, makes reforming the EU from within a more viable strategy than abandoning it. According to AfD national lawmaker Sebastian Muenzenmaier, “Never since the end of the Second World War have the prospects for reforming the EU in line with our vision been better.”
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Shifting Emphasis to a “New Deal”
The party’s original goal of leaving the eurozone has proven challenging to address. Younger members, such as Jean-Pascal Hohm, the 29-year-old leader of the party’s youth wing, Generation Deutschland, believe that maintaining hardline stances on Europe could hinder the AfD’s most feasible path to federal power, which involves potential cooperation with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), who currently rule out any alliance.
Last month, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel presented a strategy paper at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on a “New Deal for Europe” alongside allies in the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) grouping. The paper shifts the emphasis away from quitting the eurozone and the EU, focusing instead on renegotiating treaties to establish a looser union. It proposes an “opt-out” mechanism for members who reject common policies on defence spending or immigration, for example, as well as stricter enforcement of budget rules – leaving open the possibility of retaining the euro. Weidel told journalists that the AfD and ESN stood for “a Europe of Fatherlands” but declined to say whether she still wanted Germany to leave the eurozone or the EU.
Lessons from European Neighbors
Germany’s export-driven economy is deeply intertwined with the global market, making EU membership beneficial. As Wolfgang Schroeder, a political science professor at Kassel University, noted, leaving the EU or the euro would be a disaster, akin to the autarky movement developed by Hitler in 1933, which is virtually impossible without risking the collapse of the entire national economy.
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Hohm and his colleagues argue that Europe’s changing political realities, as well as growing competition from China and a less reliable United States, make the case for more, not less, cooperation in the bloc. “If we were to basically cancel the common currency and everyone goes their own way again, that is completely utopian and that would also do us massive damage,” Hohm said.
But in the party as a whole, the issue is far from settled. Hohm submitted a resolution at a congress in August that read: “Generation Deutschland is committed to the European idea … Europe is more than an economic area, more than a monetary union and more than the European Union.” Yet although the resolution was phrased to emphasise the EU’s role in reinforcing shared history and heritage, rather than economic cooperation, it was withdrawn after failing to gain sufficient support. “The euro issue turned out to be more controversial than we had expected,” he said.
