How would an Alternative for Germany government be?

BarcelonaThe German intelligence services have classified Alternative for Germany as an extremist organization, the far-right party that this Sunday swept the elections in the eastern federal state of Saxony-Anhalt with 44% of the votes. If it ultimately comes to govern (it fell just three seats short of an absolute majority and depends on the support of the pro-Russian nationalists Sahra Wagenknecht), the party wants to impose decisive changes that threaten basic democratic rights. These are the most prominent points of the electoral program that has led the AfD to a historic result and which could allow the far-right to govern a German state for the first time since Nazism.

Anti-immigration policy

In its government program, the AfD promises "deportation from minute 1", which consists of deporting as many migrants as possible who reside in Saxony-Anhalt without a permit. It also advocates for further limiting the right to asylum, extending detention time before deportation, and forcing international protection seekers to work. At the same time, it demands cutting all public funding for reception programs, which they label as an "asylum business".

All of this would be carried out by a government "remigration" working group, the European far-right slogan for referring to the forced and mass expulsion of migrants. Like Vox, the AfD also places special emphasis on minors: in its program, it advocates for excluding children and adolescents who do not have a residence permit from ordinary schooling.

It is not clear how these measures would be applied, which are discriminatory and contrary to the German Constitution (such as school segregation) and go beyond the powers of a state (for example, deportations are a federal competence).

Regarding the arrival of new migrants, the government program demands a "180-degree turn" to cut entries and reduce the presence of foreigners in the territory. A slogan that ignores the lack of labor in sectors such as elderly care, in a population marked by accelerated aging. In fact, Saxony-Anhalt is the German federal state that has lost the most population since the reunification of the 90s: it has gone from 2.9 to 2.1 million inhabitants and all economic indicators confirm the lack of specialized workers. The ultras respond to this contradiction by encouraging Germans living outside the country to return: for this reason, they propose a "return program", which includes aid for housing and schooling, but which is neither quantified nor budgeted.

Pro-Kremlin turn

The AfD's electoral program openly bets on eliminating the sanctions imposed on Russia for the invasion of Ukraine and returning to buying oil from Moscow. It also proposes a "return offensive" for Ukrainian refugees. These are proposals that only have symbolic and political value, because the areas of defense and foreign policy correspond exclusively to the federal government of the conservative Frederick Merz. However, the 16 German federal states can influence these areas through the Bundesrat, the equivalent of the Senate. The arrival of the far-right to power in Saxony-Anhalt would give it a voice on these issues and considerable political weight in Berlin. There is another point in their program that could indeed be materialized within state competencies: expanding the offer of the Russian language in schools, by hiring native Russian teachers.

Citizen patrols

The far right is already openly proposing the creation of street shock forces, in the form of "citizen patrols" made up of volunteers who would support supposedly "overwhelmed" police forces. It would be, according to the program, "the third pillar of the local security architecture," after the state and federal forces. These armed citizen groups are a common feature in the Nazism and fascism of the 30s and also connect with Donald Trump's policy in the United States, as seen in the assault on the Capitol.

Making peace with the Nazi past

Within what it calls "identity politics", the AfD advocates for promoting a positive image of Germany and its past, overcoming what it considers a "perpetuation of the guilt complex" regarding Nazism. It defends a revision of the school curriculum to make peace with the country's past. It also wants to eliminate the multicolored rainbow flag from schools and high schools, and even rejects the Bauhaus architecture of the 1920s, linked to modernity, social equality, and the democratization of design, of which Saxony-Anhalt is one of the main exponents. It also demands the withdrawal of public funding from all projects related to diversity and the defense of democratic rights.