Germany's AfD unveils plan to overhaul EU, floats referendum on membership

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Wednesday evening unveiled proposals for a sweeping overhaul of the European Union at a news conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Party co-leader Alice Weidel presented the plans, titled "A New Deal for Europe," alongside AfD lawmakers René Aust and Alexander Sell. The core idea is to return powers to national parliaments and governments. Weidel singled out the European Commission, the only institution that can propose EU-wide laws even though it is not directly elected, calling this a massive disruption of checks and balances and of democratic decision-making, according to dpa.

Under the party's plans, members of the European Parliament would no longer be directly elected but sent by national parliaments, while the European Council of heads of state and government would become the central decision-making body. The paper calls for a fundamental redesign of the euro system, with the European Central Bank strictly limited to price stability and Germany given more weight on its governing council. Weidel said Germany should leave the Schengen area and protect its own borders if Schengen fails. If the EU is not reshaped along these lines, the AfD wants a referendum on Germany's membership.

Aust, who leads the AfD's lawmakers in the European Parliament, insisted the AfD was a pro-European party that was cooperative and constructive. Asked whether the party wanted to stay in the EU and the euro, Weidel said the AfD stood for a European Union, a "Europe of fatherlands" with European states on an equal footing. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen made similar demands last week, saying the Commission should become a "secretariat" serving the nations. In the European Parliament, the AfD sits in the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group, the smallest with 27 of 719 seats.