Sunday 3 March 2013

Majority of Germans opposing Merkel's wasteful euro rescue policy finally get a voice

A clear majority of Germans has already since at least last summer been against throwing more taxpayers' money to Greece and other crisis ridden eurozone countries in order to "save" the common currency. 

Euro-critical Germans have so far not had a chance to voice their opinion through any of the country's established political parties, which all have been for more euro aid. 

However, this is now going to change. Germany will finally get a serious euro-critical party, "Alternative for Germany". The new party will be working for the abolition of the euro by replacing it with national currencies or smaller currency unions. The party is also against further bailout payments to problem eurozone countries, and it opposes the idea of the EU becoming a transfer union. In addition the "Alternative for Germany" demands a "debureaucratization" of the European Union by returning competences back to nation states. 

It will be difficult for the old parties and their supporters in the MSM to maintain that the people behind the new party are a bunch of populist extremists: The list of founding party members is full of present and former economics professors, leading editors and industrialists. The main initiator, University of Hamburg macroeconomics professor Berndt Lucke, was for over thirty years a member of CDU, until he in 2011 had enough of Merkel's failed euro rescue policy. 

Other well known economists supporting the new party are e.g. professor Stefan Homburg (Leibniz Universität Hannover), professor Charles Blankart (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) , professor emeritus Joachim Starbatty (Universität Tübingen), professor emeritus Wilhelm Hankel and professor emeritus Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider. Also the former President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Hans-Olaf Henkel and the well known industrialist Dieter Spethmann are among the supporters. 

"Alternative for Germany" is planning to participate already in the German elections to be held in September, and latest in the euro elections next year. 

It will be interesting to see, whether the German mainstream media will give the new party a decent chance to present itself for the electorate. 

"Alternative for Germany" is a most welcome addition to the political scene in Germany. Hopefully it will inspire eurocritical movements in other EU countries. 

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