Until now, Germany had remained immune from militant Euroscepticism that becomes a party. Critics of the single currency lurked in every political formation, without however characterizing one in particular. Now it seems that things are about to change. A handful of economists, retired Christian Democrat and liberal politicians, journalists and former business executives announced at the end of last week their intention to create an electoral list (Alternative für Deutschland) to be presented in the federal elections next September or, at the later, in the European elections of June 2014.
The movement had already taken its first steps at the beginning of October with the name of Wahlalternative 2013, publishing a tough anti-euro and pro-split manifesto in the eurozone, signed so far by around 10.000 citizens. But who are the daredevils who dare to question the effectiveness of the bailout policy orchestrated by Mrs Merkel and her government? The names aren't actually all that new. These are those opponents of the Euro whom we have seen marching before the Constitutional Tribunal of Karlsruhe in the past months, when the appeals against the temporary and permanent stabilization mechanisms were filed: from the constitutionalist Albrecht Schachtschneider to the economist Joachim Starbatty, both already architects of the constitutional appeal against the Maastricht Treaty in the 90s and then co-founders of a tiny right-wing populist party (Bund freier Bürger – Offensive für Deutschland, The League of Free Citizens – Offensive for Germany), born in 1994 and foundered in 2000.
While in 1994 the founder was a liberal, Manfred Brunner, who was joined in 1998 by another exponent of the FDP, Heiner Kappel, this time the share of former politicians from the ranks of the CDU is predominant. Leading the list for now seems to be a triumvirate, made up of the Hamburg macroeconomist, Bernd Lucke, the former editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Konrad Adam and the former undersecretary of the Christian Democrat Prime Minister of Hesse, Alexander Gauland. Hans-Olaf Henkel, former president of the German Confindustria (BDI), known for his recent bestseller against the euro, presented in 2011 in a popular tour that visited the main cities of Germany, also has his support. . In the elections at the end of January in Lower Saxony, the electoral ticket with the Freie Wähler list, another small Eurosceptic party, made its first flop, reaching just 1,2% of the votes.
Now Lucke has promised that there will be no more agreements in the future, since free voters outside of Bavaria are unable to campaign. In short, the premises do not seem very good. Boiled and quarrelsome economists, journalists and politicians at the helm of a party. This is the image that emerges when you look closely at the movement. If in the inaugural convention, which will be held in Berlin on April 13 and 14, the movement should nevertheless decide to present itself in the federal elections, it could actually gnaw at some consensus from the Christian-liberal coalition, preventing it from being reconfirmed at the helm of the country. However, it is more probable that everything will founder within a few months.
