The AfD boss appealed to the party to maintain its unity. “What we can achieve with it, we see in the polls,” said Chrupalla. He called for “carrying this harmony into the next election campaigns”.
The federal chairman referred to the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse in autumn and in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in the coming year. According to Chrupalla, the AfD could become the strongest force in the three eastern German states.
From its power base in the eastern states, the AfD then wants to demonstrate its ability to govern the entire country: “We will change Germany and bring about a change for the better – first in the east, then in the west and then in the federal government,” said the AfD boss . He also announced in Magdeburg that the number of AfD members had risen to its current high of 32,187.
The AfD has been increasing in surveys for months and is currently achieving values of around 20 percent nationwide, in some cases even higher. Chrupalla warned that the party should not rest on its laurels.
With a view to the CDU and its chairman Friedrich Merz, Chrupalla said: “We are the original and nobody else”. He referred to statements by Merz, who had described the CDU as an “alternative for Germany with substance”. Chrupalla added mockingly: “Even Friedrich Merz now prefers to be party leader of the AfD.”
The firewall built by the CDU to the AfD is “wrong,” said Chrupalla. Merz also recognized that. With regard to possible coalition partners, he added that the AfD coalitions with anyone who wants to make politics in the interests of the citizens. However, his party “quite clearly” rules out a coalition with the Greens.
In the foreign policy part of his speech, Chrupalla called for an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine and the lifting of sanctions against Russia. “I demand respect for Ukraine as well as respect for Russia,” said the AfD boss.
The federal government accused Chrupalla of “aggressive policies against Russia.” The party leader directed his criticism primarily against the foreign policy line of the Greens. “The Greens want war with China and Russia,” said Chrupalla. “This green is olive green.”
Chrupalla largely avoided criticism of the Russian attack on Ukraine. He left it at one sentence: “But one must also say that Russia has not accepted offers for negotiations and mediation.”
As a foreign policy guideline, Chrupalla formulated the idea of a “multipolar world” with many different regional centers of power. He accused the “traffic light” of “taking a unilateral stand for the West” and “serving the US’s geostrategic goals in advance”. Europe must not remain “an appendage of the West”.
After a controversial debate, the delegates voted with a clear majority to join the right-wing Europe Party ID. The Paris-based ID party is a European umbrella organization of several right-wing parties, including Italy’s Lega party, French right-wing populists Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) and Austria’s FPÖ.
“We want to have majorities in Europe against the established parties that have made Europe their prey,” said co-party leader Alice Weidel. During the debate, critics argued that by joining, the AfD would “sell its core brand as a purely German party.”
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