Dexit after Brexit? Alternative for Germany party threatens EU withdrawal
Germany’s major rightwing party, the AfD, threatens to push for a so-called ‘Dexit’ if the EU doesn’t restore its members’ national sovereignty and takes no action against “Islamization of Europe” within the next five years.
“The European Community has evolved into an undemocratic structure that’s been occupied by Europe's political classes and designed by non-transparent, uncontrolled bureaucracies,” Alternative for Germany (AfD) party claims in the latest edition of their election program unveiled ahead of the 2019 European polls.
Habitually slamming the EU for being too bossy and interfering, the AfD said the bloc is being dominated by “particular interests of certain states and lobby cliques.” Therefore, there’s a need to completely rebuild the alliance by 2024, when the next legislative term of the European Parliament comes to an end.
If the reforms aren’t implemented or fail to work properly within those five years, “we deem necessary to consider a withdrawal of Germany [from the EU] or an orderly dissolution of the European Union and the establishment of a new European economic and interest community.”
It remains to be seen how realistic is the proposal to depart from the EU. Germany remains the mainstay and economic hub of Europe, and the prospect of “Dexit” seems too far away now. However, results of the 2016 Brexit vote sent shockwaves all across Europe as proponents of the ‘Leave’ cause attracted an unpredictably large number of supporters and won the plebiscite.
That aside, the AfD says Germany’s withdrawal from the EU would be the last option. Before it comes into play, the bloc should curb “lobbyism and corruption” as well as cut its apparatus that has grown too big.
According to the rightwing party, 44,000 officials and 11,000 employees cost over €8 billion ($9.1bn) annually. In the European agencies, the program said, some 4,000 officials earn each 290,000 a year, which is more than the German Chancellor’s salary.
Apart from lambasting the EU bureaucracy, the AfD devoted a sizeable part of its paper to immigration and perceived Islamization of Europe. Besides common demands to shut EU’s borders to migrant arrivals and introduce a far more stringent refugee policy, the program teaches a sort of theology lesson proclaiming that Islam is "the enemy of Europe.”
“Islam does not separate state from religion and is therefore also a political ideology,” it says, suggesting that numerous Koran verses “demand to fight against non-Muslims up to the killing of the other faithful.”
Also on rt.com Islam does not belong in Germany, 60% agree with AfDAnti-immigration agenda is what allowed the AfD to garner popular support since it was established in 2013. The rightwing party has frequently blasted Merkel’s “open door” toward migrants from Muslim-majority countries which saw over 1 million migrants arrive in Germany since 2015.
Over the last years, the AfD made solid gains at local and national elections, having formed the third-largest faction in Bundestag. In turn, it is no stranger to an array of controversies, including allegations of harboring neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic sentiments.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
