Weidel to Unveil AfD Plan to Downsize the EU: Scrap the Elected Parliament, Turn the Commission into a Secretariat

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is preparing to unveil a plan that would drastically cut the European Union's powers, institutions and budget. Party leader Alice Weidel will present the strategy at the European Parliament on Wednesday at an event entitled “Our new deal for Europe.”

Under the party's policy programme, the AfD wants to scrap the directly elected European Parliament and replace it with delegates appointed by national parliaments. The European Commission's role would be reduced to a purely administrative one, with decision-making transferred back to national capitals.

The plan also proposes replacing the EU's top court with an arbitration tribunal. It calls for slashing and capping the EU budget, freezing staffing numbers and abolishing agencies.

As financial leverage, the AfD says it would use its veto power to scrap revenue from VAT and plastics taxes, and threatens to halt Berlin's contributions to the common budget to force through its reforms. “If Brussels refuses the path of reform, this veto will be used to block future EU financing legislation and drastically reduce Germany's contributions,” the plan says.

The party would not, at first, seek to leave the EU or the eurozone. Instead, it wants to renegotiate the EU treaties and cut the bloc's powers. If its reforms fail, the AfD says it would put Germany's EU membership to a referendum.

On eurozone affairs, the AfD wants larger economies to be given more voting power at the European Central Bank, giving Germany a say in monetary policy, and it rejects the digital euro.

Berlin should also seek exemptions from EU rules on migration, taxation, social policy, defence and common borrowing, the party argues. If the EU's green policies are not scrapped and no substantial changes take place in industrial, agriculture and financial policies, opt-outs in those areas would be sought too.

The AfD's push comes as far-right parties look to gain ground across Europe. The party's recent victories in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have given it fresh momentum.

Last week, France's Marine Le Pen was in Brussels to outline her own plan for the EU if she becomes French president. She vowed to halve Paris' contributions to the budget and to turn the European Commission into a “secretariat” in the service of its member countries. “I'm not fooled by what the European Commission wants to do. The European Commission wants to turn itself into a state; we do not. And so we will stand in its way,” Le Pen said.

The AfD paper identifies 2029 — when the next European Parliament and German federal elections will take place — as the moment to start implementing the reforms. “In 2029, something we have scarcely dared to hope for may become reality: a patriotic, right-wing majority in the European Parliament is coming within reach,” it says.

Attention will now turn to how Europe's mainstream parties respond after Weidel's presentation on Wednesday afternoon.