“Ignites in the European house”
Von der Leyen fires against the AfD and warns of violence
May 8, 2024, 2:08 p.m
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On the last day of the CDU party conference, EU Commission President von der Leyen took aim at the AfD in her speech. She warns that they plan to destroy jobs and prosperity in Europe. She is also very worried about the recent attacks on numerous politicians.
In her speech to the CDU federal party conference, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned against voting for the AfD. The AfD’s program for the upcoming European elections is a “job destruction program,” von der Leyen told delegates in Berlin. The AfD is questioning the European unification project and is toying with a Dexit, Germany’s exit from the EU.
“Whoever sets fire to the European house is putting an ax to the internal market, which ensures our prosperity,” said the Commission President, who is running for another term of office as the leading candidate of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP). And no country benefits more from the internal market than Germany. “Instead of babbling about Dexit like the AfD, we should talk more about how we can make the European economy stronger.”
In sharp words, von der Leyen accused the AfD of being too close to Russia and China. “I’ll just summarize: Before the European elections, the AfD is making propaganda for Putin and espionage for China,” said von der Leyen. “First the AfD raves about the people and the fatherland, and then the AfD secretly betrays this fatherland to autocrats. They should be ashamed of themselves!” Von der Leyen added: “No state or European Union can be built with Kremlin servants, those who despise democracy and extremists.”
Democracy would no longer be safe
Von der Leyen warned of growing threats to democracy in Europe. These dangers were also evident in the recent attacks against politicians. “We must protect all those who stand up for our democratic society and our country from attacks, no matter what party they belong to, no matter whether privately, whether in the election campaign or in the exercise of their offices, whether day or night,” said von der Leyen. “Because if these people are no longer safe, then our democracy is no longer safe either,” she said. “That’s why the perpetrators must feel the full force of the law.”
Berlin’s Economics Senator Franziska Giffey was slightly injured in a physical attack on Tuesday, the police and public prosecutor’s office said. In Dresden, a Green Party politician was attacked by two people while hanging up election posters. On Friday last week, SPD politician Matthias Ecke was also beaten up and seriously injured by four young men in Dresden.
With von der Leyen’s speech on the third and final day of the CDU party conference, the Union wants to start the “hot phase” of the European election campaign. The election in Germany will take place on June 9th.