German far-right party mulling ‘Dexit’

RIESA

(Germany): Far-right party AfD meets to decide whether to champion Germany’s exit from the EU in their campaign for the upcoming European parliamentary elections, at a time when Brexit is already roiling the bloc.

Members of the anti-immigration party are holding a four-day congress to firm up a manifesto for the May 23 elections, when populists and nationalist groups are expected to make gains across Europe.

If the party’s rank-and-file decides to adopt the “Dexit” plan, the AfD would open another front in its battle against mainstream political classes in Germany as it smashes yet another taboo, after having already openly questioned the country’s atonement culture over World War II.

A move to become Germany’s Dexit party would also bring it back to its roots – the AfD was founded in 2013 on an anti-euro platform, although it has since shifted focus to champion an anti-immigration ideology.

But such a move could yet prove risky in a country that is still largely pro-European, and the AfD itself too is split on the radical proposal to put 2024 as a date to potentially yank Germany out of the EU.

According to the party’s 58-page campaign strategy for debate at the congress, the AfD will argue that the EU was “developing into an undemocratic structure”.

If reforms were not carried out to fix the problems in the next five years, “then an exit of Germany or an orderly dissolution of the European Union and the formation of a new European economic community would be necessary”.

Historian and political analyst Klaus-Peter Sick believes the AfD could be simply testing the waters with the Dexit proposal.

“The AfD is testing even within its own party to see where its own positions are, but also where its electorate is prepared to go.

“Because for the AfD, the European elections are not that important, what it is focusing on are really the regional and general elections.” — AFP