AfD rethinks euro exit stance as Germany's far right seeks broader political influence

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AfD rethinks euro exit

Highlights

The AfD is reconsidering its demand for Germany to leave the euro as party leaders promote a less hardline approach to European integration.
Alice Weidel's strategy paper advocates treaty changes and opt-outs within the EU but keeps open the option of retaining the euro, mirroring moderations by other European far-right parties.
Germany's integration with global markets makes euro exit economically risky, yet internal AfD divisions persist as its youth wing withdrew support for a pro-Europe resolution in August.

Strategy shift on Europe and the euro

As reported by BusinessWorld Online, the AfD is recalibrating its long-standing euroskeptic platform as it weighs how to pair its anti-establishment profile with a more government-ready image. The party, founded in 2013 during the euro zone crisis, is now debating whether pressing for withdrawal from the common currency still serves its broader political ambitions.

That discussion has intensified after the party's victory in a regional election in Saxony-Anhalt in September and its rise to become Germany's most popular party in nationwide surveys. Younger figures such as Jean-Pascal Hohm, who leads the youth wing Generation Deutschland, argue that hardline demands on the euro and the European Union could complicate any eventual cooperation with Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats, which currently reject an alliance.

Last month, co-leader Alice Weidel presented a strategy paper in the European Parliament in Strasbourg with allies from the Europe of Sovereign Nations group. The document, titled a "New Deal for Europe," shifts emphasis away from leaving the euro zone or the EU and instead calls for treaty changes to create a looser union, including opt-out provisions on areas such as defense spending and immigration, while keeping open the option of retaining the euro.

Weidel says the AfD and its allies support "a European union, a Europe of fatherlands," but she declines to say whether she still wants Germany to leave the euro zone or the EU. The paper says a referendum would decide Germany's future European direction if reform efforts fail.

Political and economic implications for Germany

The repositioning mirrors moves by other far-right parties in the euro zone that have moderated anti-euro demands as they approach power. France's National Rally and Italy's Brothers of Italy have both toned down earlier euroskeptic rhetoric, while Austria's Freedom Party, which maintains close ties to the AfD, has also abandoned most anti-European positions on its path toward governing coalitions.

Wolfgang Schroeder, a political science professor at Kassel University, says Austria offers a model for the AfD and suggests it may only be a matter of time before the German party drops such positions more fully. He also argues that Germany's export-driven economy is too tightly integrated with global markets for leaving the EU or the euro to be viable, warning that such a move would risk severe economic damage.

Inside the AfD, however, the issue remains unsettled. Hohm says changing political conditions in Europe, rising competition from China and a less reliable U.S. strengthen the case for greater cooperation rather than dismantling the common currency, but an August resolution from his youth wing backing the broader European idea was withdrawn after failing to secure enough support, underscoring continuing resistance within the party.

In our earlier report on Mario Draghi’s warning over Europe’s policy trade-offs, we outlined his case that fighting inflation and stabilizing debt should not come at the expense of the long-term investment needed to lift growth and resilience. He argued that keeping rates no higher than necessary, alongside steps such as deeper EU market integration and targeted EU-budget support for innovation, would help avoid weakening Europe’s productive capacity over time.

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