BERLIN, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are advocating a shift in the party’s long-standing opposition to Germany’s membership in the European Union and the euro, according to a strategy paper seen by Reuters on Monday.
The move would mark a notable change in one of the founding principles of the AfD, which was created in 2013 largely in opposition to euro zone bailout policies and has long advocated the dissolution of the currency union or Germany’s exit from it.
The paper, first reported by Bild newspaper, advocates for a fundamental overhaul of the bloc and currency instead of an immediate withdrawal. If those efforts failed, the party should then call for a referendum on Germany’s membership, it said.
It also envisages transforming the EU into a looser “union of sovereign nations”, limiting Brussels’ role in domestic policymaking and allowing national opt-outs in areas such as migration, EU finances and social policy.
The paper was produced by AfD lawmakers from the European Parliament, Germany’s lower house of parliament and its state parliaments, and discussed at a meeting last month. A party convention next year would sign off on any change to its decade-old policy platform.
Peter Boehringer, the AfD’s parliamentary spokesman on European affairs and a long-time critic of the euro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The AfD has steadily expanded its support by campaigning against migration following an influx of people fleeing war in the Middle East in 2015, a strategy that has helped it achieve a series of election successes, most recently in Saxony-Anhalt.
The AfD, which came second in last year’s national election after Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives, aims to enter the federal government by 2029. Germany’s mainstream political parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD, which the domestic intelligence agency has branded as “right-wing extremist”, a characterisation the party rejects.
Party co-leader Alice Weidel described the euro as a “soft currency” in an interview with broadcaster ZDF in August but stopped short of explicitly calling for Germany to quit the currency.
(Reporting by Miranda MurrayEditing by Gareth Jones)
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