This is how the AFD wants to reshape the state – and Germany

 

Henrik Samuelsson/TT

 

Published 15.47

 

AFD's top candidate Ulrich Siegmund. Photo: Matthias Schrader/AP/TT

The AFD in Saxony-Anhalt is classified as extremist, but still attracts many voters who are dissatisfied with the traditional parties.

Here are some of the radical proposals on which the party builds its profile, taken from the 258-page program published ahead of Sunday's state election:

Migration

The party describes it as necessary to "end illegal, culturally alien and hostile mass migration", and that a "deportation and repatriation offensive" should be launched.

The aim is therefore partly to throw out "foreign" immigrants – but also to try to entice emigrant Germans to return.

The line applies in particular to Ukrainians, who according to the AFD should not be seen as war refugees. Those who need to flee eastern Ukraine can settle in western Ukraine rather than in Germany, the party believes.

School

Children of refugees should receive schooling that is adapted to the fact that they are only in Germany temporarily, and attend special classes. Their teachers should also be refugees “if possible”.

The opportunity to study Russian and go on school exchanges to Russia should be strengthened. The AFD justifies this by saying that the “old parties” have an unnecessarily “anti-Russian” policy that “divides Europe”.

Without explicitly mentioning the Hitler era in the 20th century, the AFD states that the curriculum should focus more on the 19th century. At that time, Otto von Bismarck united Germany into a kingdom that, according to the party promises, can still serve as “inspiration and role model”.

Sanctions

The pro-Russia line recurs in the view of the punitive measures Germany and the EU have introduced against the Moscow regime. The AFD believes that sanctions are hampering the state’s trade. Sanctions against countries such as Russia, Belarus and Iran should therefore be lifted, it says.

The program does not call the Ukraine war a war, but rather a "Auseinandersetzung" - roughly a conflict or dispute.

Energy

Wind and solar power are described as unreliable and unsightly in the landscape. The AFD promises a moratorium, i.e. a temporary total stop, for new wind power in Saxony-Anhalt. Solar power should not be allowed in "German cultural landscapes", it says - but can be built on roofs, for example, to ensure local energy security.

The party describes the Energiewende, Germany's ongoing phasing out of fossil fuels, as a failure. The polluting lignite should continue to be an energy source, the AFD believes.

It also advocates that the nuclear power plants that have been shut down in Germany should return, although in rather vague terms.

The party writes in several places in the program that these issues should also be pursued in the Federal Council, often called Germany's upper house; the chamber of the German parliament where the states are represented.