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Alternative for Germany Manifesto: No to Eurozone, Turkey & Climate Change

© AFP 2023 / JOHN MACDOUGALLSupporters of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party display an AfD banner during a demonstration by AfD supporters in Berlin on November 7, 2015
Supporters of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party display an AfD banner during a demonstration by AfD supporters in Berlin on November 7, 2015 - Sputnik International
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The right-wing, Eurosceptic, Alternative for Germany announced its first party political manifesto after concluding its party conference in Stuttgart on Sunday, Die Welt reported.

Frauke Petry (3rd, L), chairman of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and the AfD's leading politician Alexander Gauland (4th, L) hold a banner reading Asylum needs limits during a demonstration against the German government's asylum policy organized by the AfD party in Berlin on November 7, 2015. - Sputnik International
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0n Saturday and Sunday more than 2,000 members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party gathered, despite violent opposition from left-wing activists, to debate the first party manifesto.

The 78-page manifesto has 14 chapters on a range of policy and has now been published online. On Monday German newspaper Die Welt offered the first digest of its wide-ranging contents.

The European Union and the Euro

The party demands that the EU returns many of its responsibilities to national governments.

If Brussels doesn't, then AfD will push for "the withdrawal of Germany or a democratic dissolution of the EU and the establishment of a new European Economic Community."

The party categorically rejects Turkish membership of the EU, which it calls a "non-negotiable" condition of participation in any coalition government.

The party also calls for the Bundestag to "order the end of the Euro experiment," and if German parliamentarians don't, then the AfD wants a referendum on German membership of the single currency. 

German banks should not be responsible for the debts of foreign banks. Instead, banks in the Eurozone should have their "obligations limited to the national level."

Foreign Policy and National Security

AfD calls for the reintroduction of conscription, and the withdrawal of all foreign troops, and nuclear weapons, from Germany.

While some factions in the party expressed their wish to leave the NATO alliance, the manifesto states that Germany should remain in NATO, which "corresponds to the foreign and security interests of Germany, as long as NATO restricts itself to its role as a defensive alliance." 

Der Spiegel reported that during a lively debate, party vice-chairman Alexander Gauland intervened to recall Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck. Gauland said that if Bismarck were alive today, he would have recommended Germany remain in the alliance.

Border Control and Internal Policing 

AfD calls for the formation of a "nationwide system of border protection under the umbrella of the federal police."

The force will supervise border crossings, which "can be closed at any time if there is a dangerous situation."

The party recommends that Germany's unsupervised "green border," land where the border is not under active supervision, could be policed "according to the Austrian example, using conscripts."

Islam and Migration

The party believes that "Islam does not belong in Germany," and wants to ban minarets and the call to prayer, and the full-face veil for women. 

AfD also wants to deny corporate status to Islamic organizations, and ban religious methods of animal slaughter practiced by Jews and Muslims.

The party wants to promote the traditional family, and calls for "more children instead of mass migration."

Tax 

The party proposes greatly simplifying the tax system, cutting taxes for low- to middle-income earners, particularly families. Under the AfD inheritance tax would be abolished, and taxes on businesses reviewed. 

While the party gave no specific figures, it wants to constitutionally limit the amount of taxes and duty, in order to limit "state power over citizens."

Energy

AfD wants to extend the use of nuclear power stations and reverse the phasing out of nuclear power, which began in 2002 with the Nuclear Exit Law. 

The party wants to repeal the Renewable Energies Act, stop subsidizing biofuels and explore the possibilities of fracking.

"The climate has been changing for as long as the Earth has existed. Climate change politics is based on ineffective IPCC computer models. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, but an indispensable ingredient of everyday life," the manifesto's energy section begins.

A balloon of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) party can be seen during an election party in Berlin on March 13, 2016. - Sputnik International
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The right-wing, populist Alternative for Germany party was established in 2013 in reaction to Germany's political position with respect to the European debt crisis. 

It gained 4.7 percent of the popular vote in the 2013 federal elections, a result it improved on in regional elections in March this year.

In three German states, Baden-Wurttemburg, Rheinland-Pfalz and Sachsen-Anhalt, the party received 15.1, 12.6 and 24.3 percent of the vote respectively, an indication of rising levels of support ahead of federal elections in autumn next year.

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