Last Sunday, the far-right AfD achieved its strongest result ever in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). With a 43% of the votes, they came close to an outright majority. The European Free Alliance believes that this is a deeply worrying signal for Europe, and a clear sign that the EU needs to offer its citizens an alternative for the future. One is more attractive than the far right throwback to a dark past of intolerance and ultra conservatism.
At the European Free Alliance, we claim that the European project still needs profound improvements: more democracy, greater social justice, stronger territorial cohesion and more power for its peoples and regions. The rise of the far-right in Europe threatens to destroy what has been build rahter than keep moving forward.The European project is founded on democracy, solidarity, mutual support and respect for others. We must work together to strengthen these foundations, not abandon them.
The AfD offers a politics of division and exclusion. Its proposals include increasing deportations, imposing obligations on asylum seekers, separating children with migrant backgrounds in education, weakening inclusion, restricting diversity in schools and attacking public broadcasting.
A politics that rejects science, weakens education and inclusion, and creates first, second and third-class citizens through nationalism and ultra-conservatism is not a programme for the future. It is a journey into the past.
What the result tells us
But we must also listen to what this result tells us. Many people are voting out of frustration with their economic situation, their communities and a political system they feel no longer responds to their everyday needs. The answer cannot be to dismiss them. It must be to provide better solutions.
Governments must strengthen local economies, public services and social security, while ensuring that no territory or community is left behind. The fight against the far right must be fought by building democratic alternatives.
This has always been central to EFA: the future should not be decided only in EU’s capitals. It should be decided in every territory, every community and every town.
The AfD’s programme is not a programme for the future. It is a journey into the past, and it must be confronted with better ideas, stronger communities and a Europe that leaves no one behind.