The extreme right in Germany is on the rise. Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is still growing in the polls. The party is stealing many voters from the CDU, originally a powerful conservative people’s party. “Germany itself has control over where it is going.”
Bernd Busemann (71) is a prominent member of the CDU in Germany. The former Minister of Justice in Lower Saxony, Speaker of the Parliament in Hanover, may be retired, but he closely follows current political developments in his country. He is critical of his own party and warns of the dangers of the AfD (Alternative fur Deutschland).
AfD on the rise
Yes, Busemann knows the latest polls, in which the AfD is still on the rise. On the A RD Germany Trend – An political barometer – the AfD is now in second place in Germany in July with almost 20 percent, just behind the SPD. The extreme right is advancing. Since it was founded in 2013, it was especially popular in the former East Germany, but the party now also seems to be scoring in the ‘West’. Prominent CDU leaders and party members from the border region are concerned, but also criticize their own party.
From his hometown of Dörpen, just across the border at Bourtange, Busemann doesn’t mince words. He is critical of his own CDU, but he is even fiercer about the AfD. “And whether the AfD is a dangerous party. Germany still has a robust democracy, but we have it in our own hands where it goes.”
So, the head is off. Busemann was always outspoken throughout his political career. He calls the AfD a party where some members have Nazi-like views. “It is not for nothing that they are strictly checked by the internal security service in the state of Thuringia.” The service would prefer to check the entire AfD in Germany, but a lawsuit is currently pending. In June, the security service reported that it considered more than 30 percent of the approximately 31,000 party members to be potential extremists.
The glory days of the CDU are over
In Lower Saxony, the AfD is now the third party (14 percent), according to a recent poll. Prime Minister Stephan Weil’s SPD is still the largest with 32 percent, followed by the CDU with 29 percent. Figures that do not make Busemann happy at all. He lived through the heyday of his party, when often 40 percent of voters voted for the Christian party. “We are now below 30 percent. That is absolutely not possible. We have to get back to at least 30 percent.”
CDU take more stand against AfD
Busemann believes that his own party should take a much more stance against the AfD. “The CDU was for decades a people’s party, right of center, with conservative views. The family was central. We have shifted too much to the middle. Man, we’re almost indistinguishable from the SPD. The CDU has to profile itself in many areas, such as taxation. We must cherish families again, where hard-working fathers and mothers earn the money. That has made the CDU great in the past.”
But on the other hand, he also thinks that voters should be more interested in politics. “Many people nowadays are only concerned with where to spend their holidays. The younger generations think that the economy will always go well and that there is hardly any unemployment. That is of course not the case. I want to warn everyone: realize what you are getting with the AfD. Keep ears and eyes open. Vigilance is required, otherwise what happened in the 1930s could just happen.”
Germany was in an economic crisis during that period. Hitler came to power, which led to World War II. “It has been going well in Germany for a long time. But now that the economy is getting worse, we are dealing with high inflation, we have an unprecedented energy crisis, et cetera, populism is rampant.”
‘Euro introduction caused the economic crisis’
The AfD has denied the corona pandemic, is sympathetic to Putin and his war against Ukraine and is against the Euro as currency. On their website, the party cites the introduction of the euro as the main cause of the economic crisis in which Germany finds itself. And the established parties have this on their conscience, causing prosperity to deteriorate. Populist views for which they receive a lot of support. “But I think it is an ultra-right party that we have to counter with arguments,” says Busemann. “Some CDU voters have also dropped out in Emsland and have opted for the AfD. That party remains taboo for me.”
Tens of kilometers to the north, fellow party member Heiko Abbas also makes no bones about it. The mayor of the city of Weener, just across the border at Bad Nieuweschans, believes that all other parties should address the AfD verbally. “We have to make it clear to that party that we do not want to work with them. AfD is a dangerous party. They love strife, chaos and conflict. That gives them many supporters in times of crisis, but it is populist language. It is up to the democratic parties to stop them.”
First mayor in Germany for right-wing populist AfD
The right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has secured a mayoral post for the first time in a town with a population of about 9,000. Recently, the AfD candidate for mayor in Raguhn-Jessnitz, in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt, received more than 51 percent of the vote.
The result is a new breakthrough for the AfD, which recently also has a district councilor. The party is also on the rise nationally. According to a recent poll, the party has more than 19 percent of the vote. This means that the right-wing populists are still behind the CDU.
The AfD owes its rise, according to analysts, to the way in which the party responds to negative sentiment among voters about issues such as immigration and the transition to a green economy – Energiewende -. The party even plans to nominate a chancellor candidate for the 2025 elections. The AfD is now mainly popular in eastern Germany.
Homeland security
The site of the German internal security service www.verfassungsschutz.de and the site of duitslandinstituut.nl contain background stories and annual reports about the increase in right-wing violence in Germany.
Lower Saxony election results
Since the state elections in 2022, the parliament of Lower Saxony has eighteen representatives on behalf of the AfD. None of them were directly elected to the Parliament of Lower Saxony via the first vote in the constituencies. In the 2021 local elections, the AfD won a total of 113 seats in the Landkreisen, becoming the fifth strongest party. The AfD has 202 seats in the municipalities of Lower Saxony. The figures come from Lower Saxony’s Ministry of the Interior and Sports.