Exiting the EU is an option for AfD leader Tino Chrupalla. And he also has suggestions for the economy.
“It’s really a real conspiracy theory what you’re doing,” Markus Lanz accused his guest Tino Chrupalla. The talk show on Tuesday evening was all about dialogue with the AfD. Its co-chairman – sitting immediately to the left of the moderator – was clear about what concerns Germany’s future in the European Union: “Of course, as a last resort, as a means of pressure, there must be the possibility, especially for Germany, as the highest net contributor, to leave this Union .”
The guests
Claus Ruhe Madsen, CDU politician, Tino Chrupalla, AfD party leader, Lukas Rietzschel, writer, Franziska Klemenz, journalist
Lanz was met with an offensive giggle, as he often did on the show. He accused Chrupalla of embezzling what Germany receives in return in subsidies from Brussels. “Do you have any idea how much German prosperity would be lost if we left the EU?” asked the moderator. “This will pay off for Great Britain in the long run,” said Chrupalla, with a view to Brexit. According to the broadcaster, he told Deutschlandfunk at the beginning of February that it was too late for “Dexit”.
AfD leader is considering “Dexit”
Lanz referred to “economic indicators” according to which the United Kingdom is expected to lose the equivalent of around 163 billion euros annually due to Brexit. Chrupalla immediately expressed doubts – and suspected conspiracy. “Economists have to throw exactly these numbers into the room in order to hold Europe together so that there are no imitators,” said the AfD party leader. “Do you think they’re lying?” asked Lanz. “You’re not lying, but…” the right-wing politician stammered, and added: “Imagine if leaving the EU would be worthwhile for a country. What would then happen in this European Union.”
Chrupalla: The protection of the constitution is being abused
Chrupalla argued similarly when it came to the work of federal and state constitutional protection authorities. “We will continue to sue,” he announced regarding the classification of his party’s youth organization as definitely right-wing extremist. An urgent application against the decision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution failed on Thursday before the Cologne Administrative Court. “This is of course also justified in terms of election tactics,” claimed Chrupalla, also with a view to similar assessments by constitutional protection officers in Saxony.
So the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is being abused politically? asked Lanz. “Well, absolutely,” replied the AfD co-chairman. “If that’s the case, then you would be a victim,” said the moderator. “That’s why we’re suing,” said his guest. “You have no idea why you are classified as a right-wing extremist?” replied Lanz. Chrupalla said no. The party leader said about his party colleague Björn Höcke: “For me he is not right-wing extremist.”
The talk show host reacted with astonishment: “Björn Höcke isn’t someone who talks about subversive fantasies or ethnic fantasies and so on?” said Lanz. “You would say: He’s out? He’s not a right-wing extremist?” Journalist Klemenz recalled that Höcke in Schnellroda in Saxony-Anhalt “talked about the reproduction of people in Africa as if they were bacteria,” or Höcke’s word about the “monument of shame” for the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.
After Lanz repeatedly asked questions about another right-wing extremist contact, Chrupalla admitted: “Yes, I know him.” The moderator asked about Gernot Mörig from Düsseldorf. He is considered to be an organizer of the meeting in a Potsdam villa and has allegedly previously initiated a meeting (“5th Düsseldorf Round”) with Chrupalla and financiers from the right-wing milieu. Chrupalla had told the media that he had a lack of memory regarding his alleged participation.
“Lanz”: Officials fired?
Then the AfD leader switched to suggesting what state officials should do instead. Schleswig-Holstein’s Economics Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU) reported how he came to the country in 1992 without knowing German and how important people from abroad are for the German economy. Chrupalla made a suggestion as to where the urgently needed skilled workers could come from in the short term: from the authorities.
“We currently also have to think about reducing civil service positions in this country because we have far too many. The administration is far too big,” said Chrupalla, particularly with regard to federal authorities and federal ministries: “No one needs these people there. ” Lanz preferred to ask again: “You would, so to speak, take civil servants out of the public service and thus solve the shortage of skilled workers in Germany?” But they are “not skilled workers for battery production,” he interjected. “Retrain,” was Chrupalla’s answer.
