“I’m not fooled by what the European Commission wants to do. The European Commission wants to turn itself into a state; we do not. And so we will stand in its way,” Le Pen said.
The AfD policy paper, obtained by Brussels Playbook, says the AfD would not seek to leave the EU or eurozone at first. Instead, it wants to renegotiate the EU treaties and cut the bloc’s powers, institutions and budget. Weidel will present her strategy at an event on Wednesday afternoon entitled “Our new deal for Europe.”
The party wants to replace direct European Parliament elections with delegates appointed by national parliaments, reduce the Commission’s role to purely administrative and transfer decision-making to national capitals. It also wants to replace the EU’s top court with an arbitration tribunal.
The plan calls for slashing and capping the EU budget, freezing staffing numbers and abolishing agencies. The AfD would use its veto power to scrap revenue from VAT and plastics taxes, and threaten to halt Berlin’s contributions to the common budget to force through the reforms it demands.
“If Brussels refuses the path of reform, this veto will be used to block future EU financing legislation and drastically reduce Germany’s contributions,” the AfD plan says.
The AfD also wants to give larger eurozone economies more voting power at the European Central Bank — giving Germany a say in monetary policy — and reject the digital euro.