AfD proposes replacing directly elected European Parliament with national delegates, threatens referendum if reforms fail
AfD wants delegates from national parliaments, a smaller Commission and to shift power back to Berlin; 2029 elections set as the turning point.
The right‑wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has outlined a programme that would dismantle several core EU institutions and transfer powers back to national capitals, while warning that failure to accept its reforms could lead to a German referendum on EU membership.
Alice Weidel, the party’s co‑leader, is due to present the policy document in the European Parliament tomorrow, according to the plan released by the party. The programme calls for abolishing the directly elected European Parliament, slimming down the European Commission and giving Berlin the option to opt out of common EU policies.
Core proposals and political context
The AfD says it will not immediately seek to take Germany out of the EU or the eurozone. Instead, the party aims to renegotiate EU treaties to reduce the bloc’s competences, institutions and budget, and to repatriate decision‑making to national capitals.
Among its concrete proposals, the document argues for replacing European Parliament elections with delegates appointed by national parliaments, reducing the European Commission to a primarily administrative secretariat, and substituting the EU’s highest court with an arbitration tribunal.
The programme also contains a warning: "If Brussels rejects the reforms, it will use its veto to block future EU financing legislation and drastically reduce Germany's contributions." The document identifies 2029 — when both European Parliament and German federal elections are due — as the moment to begin implementing the changes, and says that if reforms fail it will put Germany’s membership of the EU to a referendum.
The move comes as AfD has seen electoral advances at state level, winning in Saxony‑Anhalt and Mecklenburg‑Western Pomerania, and as similar right‑wing parties across Europe press for institutional change. Last week Marine Le Pen set out a plan in Brussels proposing to halve France’s contributions to the EU budget and turn the European Commission into a secretariat if she wins the presidency.
Photo: Fejsbuk)
