“Contradictory and dangerous”
Economists warn against the AfD’s economic plan
January 27, 2024, 10:53 a.m
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While demonstrations against right-wing extremism are taking place across Germany, entrepreneurs are also sharply criticizing the AfD. The party’s economic plans are contradictory and a danger to the German economy. The consequences would not least affect the AfD voters themselves.
Several German economists have criticized the AfD’s economic policy goals as absurd and dangerous. “The AfD throws populist, but too short-sighted approaches into a soup in which they swim together but do not fit together,” said the President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Moritz Schularick, to “Spiegel”.
The head of the Munich IFO Institute, Clemens Fuest, told the magazine that the right-wing populist AfD relies on isolation and self-sufficiency, “which destroys German competitive advantages.” This policy is “in diametric contradiction to Germany’s deep integration into the global economy.” Former economist Lars Feld warned against the AfD’s plan to return to national currencies in Europe. “An exit from the euro or even the European Union would be a program to destroy German prosperity,” Feld told “Spiegel”.
AfD voters are particularly affected
“The AfD has the reputation of being a small people’s party, but that’s not what it is,” said Holger Stichnoth from the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research. He calculated the financial effects of important AfD demands for the 2021 federal election. “The numbers clearly show who benefits from this – the higher earners,” emphasized the researcher. An analysis by the German Institute for Economic Affairs also shows that if the AfD were to implement its programs, its potential supporters, who are often employees in structurally weak regions with low or at best middle incomes, would be particularly likely to suffer.
The economist Martin Werding described the AfD’s pension plans as “pretty half-baked and obviously contradictory.” The party has no solution to the financing problems “that we will have until 2035 due to the retirement of the baby boomers.” The former head of the Institute for the Future of Work, Simon Jäger, warned that the AfD’s policies could deter potential immigrants. However, Germany is dependent on “qualified workers from abroad”.
Recently, revelations by the research network Correctiv about a secret meeting of AfD politicians, right-wing extremists and entrepreneurs caused outrage. The expulsion of millions of people with an immigration background is said to have been discussed. The revelations triggered nationwide mass protests against right-wing extremism.