A far-right party in Germany on Sunday declared the European Union as a 'failed project' in its current form ahead of the upcoming European Parliament election in June next year, and called for it to be refounded, as per reports.
Adopting its progran for the election at a party convention in Magdeburg, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) said that the EU has 'completely failed' in all essential areas, including climate change and migration, and rejected the Euro currency. Stopping short of demanding Germany's exit from the EU, the party called for it to be re-founded as a 'federration of European nations'.
AfD's election program highlighted the protection of external borders against migration, introduction of strategic autonomy in security policies and preservation of different identities in Europe as the main tasks of the new federation.
In June, the AfD said in a draft program that it would seek the "orderly dissolution of the EU", a much tougher stance than the one today. This comes as several German officials have advocated for the country's exit from the Union in what it calls 'Dexit', similar to the UK's 'Brexit'.
However, the new election program of the party says that AfD supports the idea of a "Europe of fatherland, a European community of sovereign, democratic states." The party's list of 35 candidates for the European Parliament election has also been finalised.
AfD's lead candidate is European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah, with 65.7% of the votes. He has been a lawmaker in the European Parliament since 2019.
Meanwhile, members of the far-right party have spoken out against cooperating with the Christian Democratic Union of former chancellor Angela Merkel. Deputy chairman of the AfD, Stephan Brandner, said that he did “not see a reason to approach” the CDU.
On the other hand, the CDU’s main leader, Friedrich Merz, insisted that there would be no cooperation even at the local level between his Christian Democratic Union and AfD
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