Interview
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel on Ukraine, migration and Germany’s future | The Economist
- The German economy is projected to require a complete restructuring of foundational systems due to self-inflicted energy infrastructure destruction, with companies facing skyrocketing bankruptcy rates or relocation driven by the world's highest energy costs.
- Under a proposed Friedrich Merz government, state debt is expected to rise from 80% to 82% over three years while capital market interest payments are forecast to double from 40 billion to over 80 billion within the same timeframe, necessitating a return to financial stability.
- To reduce costs, the AFD manifesto plans to cut subsidies for the current energy transition, restructure the pension system into three pillars with tax-free second and third components, and simultaneously lower taxes and social security expenditures.
- Foreign policy plans include immediately enforcing peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, halting all financial and military support to Kyiv, and seeking diplomatic energy arrangements similar to those discussed between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
- Migration policy intends to enforce existing laws to deport illegal migrants and rejected asylum seekers, including nationals from Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine following the war's conclusion.
- Social policy aims to promote a traditional family model, oppose laws regarding gender changes for minors, and remove concepts of "social genders" from the educational system.
- The AFD expects to surpass 40% in federal polling, asserts that neo-Nazi accusations are unfounded, and maintains a strategy of refusing compromises on key policy points until the CDU moves to form a coalition.
- Risks identified include the continuation of the current foreign policy posing a threat to Germany's national security and the potential for the CDU to perish if it fails to quickly address shifting voter preferences.