In February, a new German political party, Alternative für Deutschland, was established ahead of the country’s Federal Elections in September. Defining itself as ‘anti-euro’, but ‘pro-EU’, the party has already experienced significant growth in its membership numbers. Robert Grimm assesses the platform of the new party and its potential for success in the upcoming elections. He argues that while the broad nature of its support base might prove problematic in the long term, it nevertheless has the potential to be a ‘game changer’ in German and European politics

Grimm, Robert

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Bernd Lucke, Party Speaker Alternative für Deutschland (Credit: Mathesar,CC BY 3.0)22/04/2013Germany’s new anti-euro party, Alternative für Deutschland,might prove to be a game changer in German and Europeanpolitics.blogs.lse.ac.uk /europpblog/2013/04/22/alternative-fur-deutschland-germany-anti-euro-party/In February, a new German political party, Alternative für Deutschland, was established ahead of thecountry’s Federal Elections in September. Defining itself as ‘anti-euro’, but ‘pro-EU’, the party hasalready experienced significant growth in its membership numbers. Robert Grimm assesses theplatform of the new party and its potential for success in the upcoming elections. He argues thatwhile the broad nature of its support base might prove problematic in the long term, it neverthelesshas the potential to be a ‘game changer’ in German and European politics.The German Eurosceptic party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) held its inaugural conference inInterContinental in the heart of Berlin on Sunday the 14th of April. The hotel’s 1400 square-footballroom overflowed with 1,300 members of the German elite including entrepreneurs, representatives of themanagerial class, doctors, lawyers, judges, journalists, and academics. The conference was professionallyorganised with dedicated pressrooms, sophisticated IT facilities, and an orderly agenda. It was a far cry from thebeer tent mentality that is generally associated with Germany’s far right.Despite only being established on the 6th of February2013, the AfD’s success is already beyondexpectations. In the weeks leading up to the conference,the party had broad media coverage and its ranksswelled from 5,000 to 7,500 in a ‘tsunami ofmembership’. According to the German magazineFocus, no party, since the formation of the Greens in1980, has been able to raise as much attention in sucha brief period.Bernd Lucke, Professor of Macroeconomics at HamburgUniversity, who calls the economic aspects of thecurrent debt crises his ‘home game’, is the AfD’s mostprominent public face. Lucke also initiated the EconomicPlenum, an association of 328 Germanmacroeconomists, many of which voted against theEuropean Stability Mechanism (ESM). As oneconference’s attendee put it, it is this ‘concentratedintelligence’ that makes many Germans receptive to the AfD’s message.As true Europeans, we need to abandon the euroIn essence, the AfD sees itself as an alternative to prevailing pro-euro politics among Germany’s mainstreamparties. To that purpose, the AfD has three essential aims: ‘restore democratic values’; reinstate the ‘state of law’;and return to ‘economic common sense’.According to Lucke, the single currency was a historic mistake. Market dynamics made some European regionsmore competitive than others creating a union of unequal partners. Before the introduction of the euro, lesscompetitive countries were able to de-value their currencies to become attractive for investment. This option has1/3become inaccessible to members of the Eurozone. Europe consequently disintegrates into a poor and stagnatingsouthern part and an affluent northern part. Correcting this mistake is the only way out of the current crisis. Luckeargues that: ‘As true Europeans, we need to abandon the single currency that is tearing the union apart.’ The AfDtherefore demands an orderly dissolution of the euro and the return to either national currencies or smaller stablecurrency areas.The AfD laments that the Stability and Growth Pact, set out in the Treaty of Maastricht and designed to maintain theEconomic and Monetary Union (EMU) by use of strict fiscal policy that limits government deficit to 3 per cent of GDPand national debt to 60 per cent of GDP, has been breached 80 times without repercussions. The Germangovernment under the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder was the first to do so. Moreover, the ‘No Bail-Out Clause’that was part of the original treaties and which bound governments to national budget discipline without furtherliability for other member states has been effectively overridden through the ratification of the European StabilityMechanism (ESM) in September 2012. The ESM, according to Lucke and his followers, ‘institutionalised theunlawful’.Lucke’s party also complains that German parliamentary politics has ‘degenerated’ into an apathetic farce withoutconviction and leadership. The AfD demands greater transparency of political processes and, most importantly,more democracy. Like people in other nations, Germans should be given the right to exercise a choice over euromembership in a direct referendum, rather than indirectly through elected representatives.A fundamental reform of European Institutions and the renegotiation of Germany’s relationship with Europe arecentral themes in the party’s programme. The AfD calls for an end to European centralisation and the repatriation oflegislative powers and budget control to national governments. Similar to the vision of (moderate) BritishEurosceptics, Lucke’s Europe is a union of sovereign states with a single market. The AfD proposes a ‘politics ofcommon sense’ (Politik des gesunden Menschenverstands) as the response to Europe’s and Germany’s urgentproblems. In light of the complex issues at hand and considering the party’s substantial backing from ‘academicintelligence’, this sounds disappointingly simplistic.Conservative populism without ideologySunday’s meeting had a populist undertone. Although the ‘little man’ was notoriously absent in this gathering ofacademics and business leaders, the AfD builds on popular fear and discontent. The symbolic Aldi shop assistantappeared twice in Lucke’s speech as a victim of German bailout politics and imaginative transfer unions. WhileGreece was described as a country where ‘tax evasion and corruption are a sport’, there was also a show ofsolidarity for the people of southern Europe who are enduring German imposed austerity. In a critique of speculativeinternational corporate capital, the AfD’s leader argued that German taxpayers’ money was not used to bail outstruggling Greeks and Portuguese, but American hedgefunds, French and German banks, as well as Britishinsurers.The AfD sees itself as the civil society revolting against the ruling class, similar to the Vormärz. The Vormärz,associated with the struggle of progressive liberal and national forces to repel the conservatism following theCongress of Vienna, is an important historical period predating the 1848 bourgeoisie revolution. It ultimately led tothe formation of the modern German nation. The ideals of the Vormärz are often re-invoked by Germany’s ultraconservatives. The AfD can be located to the right of the centre-right, but it claims to have no ideological grounding.As Lucke puts it: ‘we are neither left nor right, but a party of a new type that does not need ideological road signs’. Inhis address, he symbolically mentioned notable German statesmen who shaped German post-war politics, includingAdenauer (CDU), Schmidt (SPD), Brandt (SPD), Kohl (CDU), and Genscher (FDP). The party spokesman was alsoquick to point out that the AfD attracts disenchanted members from the (far) left to the (far) right, a claim that wassupported by Focus and Infratest Dimap.Drawing on broad support may be an advantage but the heterogeneity of the party’s followers also posesconsiderable problems. Early disintegration is perhaps the biggest threat to the AfD’s September election prospects.2/3In an obvious contradiction with the party’s democratic principles, the leadership therefore decided to allow little timefor thematic discussions during Sunday’s congress. Imposing the election programme, for all intents and purposes,‘from above’ may have prevented potentially catastrophic infighting and schisms.Impact on German politicsThe German political mainstream will find it hard to ignore the AfD and it has been quick to attack the newly formedparty. The leader of the opposition in the Bundestag, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), condemned the AfD fordrawing political capital from a complex crisis to formulate populist arguments. Jürgen Trittin (Greens) argued that itwas misguided to look to the old model of European nation states for a successful platform for German exportindustries. Meanwhile the leader of the left-wing ‘Die Linke’ party, Bernd Riexinger, identified the AfD as ‘currentlythe most dangerous party’ on the far-right.For now, the real impact of the AfD on German politics can only be estimated. It is doubtful that the AfD will breachthe 5 per cent threshold required to enter the Bundestag in September’s general elections. The Freien Wähler, aparty with a similar agenda, achieved only 1.1 per cent of the vote in the latest regional polls in Lower Saxony.However a representative survey by YouGov for Die Zeit, published on April 17 th, found that 27 per cent of Germanssympathise with the AfD. If the AfD can keep up its current momentum it will be able to upset the balance of power inthe Bundestag and force a reshuffle of coalition partners after the September elections. The Alternative fürDeutschland might yet prove to be a game changer in German and European politics.Please read our comments policy before commenting .Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, norof the London School of Economics.Shortened URL for this post: http://bit.ly/11nYt5W _________________________________About the authorRobert Grimm – Manchester Metropolitan UniversityRobert Grimm is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Manchester MetropolitanUniversity. He is also a member of the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU). Robert iscurrently researching political attitudes and civic engagement among young East Germans as partof the pan-European FP7 research project MYPLACE.3/3

Germany’s new anti-euro party, Alternative für Deutschland, might prove to be a game changer in German and European politics.

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