The Alternative for Germany (AfD) intends to propose a referendum on Germany’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) if it comes to power and if efforts to reform the EU and limit the powers of the European Commission (EC) fail, its co-chair Alice Weidel said, citing an interview published by the Financial Times on Monday, the 22nd of January, reports Politico.
Weidel said that the party was in favour of restoring the sovereignty of EU Member States and insisted that citizens should have a say in the vote to leave, as in the UK. She praised the UK’s 2016 referendum and expressed confidence that
Germany “could have a referendum on ‘Dexit’ – Germany’s exit from the EU”.
The AfD has long been openly anti-European, making clear in its party programme that the EU is a failed project and cannot be reformed.
Although support for the EU is low among the party’s supporters, polls conducted in September 2023 show that a majority of the party’s voters – 52% – are unlikely to support Dexit and would prefer to remain in the EU, according to Politico.
BNN already reported that a secret meeting of party members with neo-Nazis and other extremists to discuss migration policy sparked widespread anti-far-right protests in Germany, during which hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country, with some calling for the party to be banned, but despite this the party is ranked second in the country.
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