MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Europe should consider creating a new currency for countries with the same level of economic development, vice-chairman of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) Alexander Gauland told Sputnik on Wednesday.
“We can have some sort of north euro or south euro, we can have common fiscal policy with states with the same economic cultural tradition as we have,” he said.
AfD was founded three years ago at the height of the eurozone crisis by economics professor Bernd Lucke, who has called for Germany to leave the euro and return to the Deutschmark. This idea was later overtaken by the issues of migration and Islam, which have become the party’s top concerns.
“We are still opponents of the eurozone,” Gauland stated, adding, however, that it was not necessary to reintroduce the Deutschmark in Germany again.
The AfD is not the only party that has grievances about Europe’s single currency. Amid the Brexit referendum, Italy’s 5-Star movement stepped up its demands for a referendum on whether to keep the euro, suggesting the bloc could introduce alternative currencies or a Euro 2.
