Markus Buchheit is a political scientist and legal advisor currently serving as a MEP. In addition, he is vice-chairman of the delegation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the coordinator of the Committee on Foreign Trade, and a member of the delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly.
Following the dismissal of the German finance minister, the coalition government is in crisis. There is talk of a vote of no confidence and early elections. What do you think Scholz will do?
In recent days, the information we receive from the government has been changing on a daily basis. In principle, and as things stand, Chancellor Scholz will request a vote of confidence on December 16, and the elections are scheduled for February 23 of next year. However, the behaviour of Chancellor Scholz regarding both the vote of confidence and the date of the elections is completely inappropriate. Chancellor Scholz has long since lost the confidence of the German citizens and he no longer has a majority in parliament. Given this situation, the correct and expected thing for a Chancellor would be immediately to raise the question of confidence in parliament. Far from it, Chancellor Scholz has chosen to maintain an arrogant attitude that shows clear contempt not only for parliament, but also for the citizens who are the true sovereigns of this nation. Unfortunately, this behaviour sends out an alarming signal that the new elections, which are demanded by a large majority of Germans, are once again subject to partisan political games and power struggles in which banal arguments are used that are far removed from the real problems and needs of the German people. In short, German citizens are once again being painfully ignored.
The AfD has had some very impressive successes in the recent federal elections. Is this perhaps the best time to run in national elections?
The AfD, as an opposition party, has a strong proposition to turn Germany around from the disaster caused by years of left-wing policies that have undermined the nation’s prosperity. However, it is not us who choose the time of elections, but rather the political parties that sit in parliament and are elected by popular vote. In the last election, the FDP barely managed to get into parliament, and that is probably why former Finance Minister Lindner decided to distance himself from the disastrous economic policies of the coalition he was part of at a time when the free, Western world is once again embracing libertarian ideals. Let us not forget that the announcement of early elections came when Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the presidential election in the United States. To answer your question, the momentum for holding elections undoubtedly benefits the AfD. German citizens have spoken out decisively in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg in recent months, giving our party overwhelming support. The reason for this is that the AfD is the only political force that currently responds with realistic proposals to the real needs of German citizens and seeks to put the nation’s future back on track.
Minister Lindner was apparently dismissed because he no longer wanted to support the chancellor’s budget plans. In fact, the FDP in the traffic light coalition has become the stanchion of left-wing politics from the very beginning, thus alienating its own voters. His party suffered heavy defeats in the recent state elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. I therefore regard the current escalation by the traffic light coalition as a desperate attempt by Lindner to save his party from final decline. The FDP should never have joined this coalition in the first place! For this it will rightly receive a bitter punishment from the voters in the upcoming federal elections.
What would be your key ideas for this election?
We want to get Germany back on track. To do this, we need to stop illegal immigration by securing our borders, and it is essential to restore security by repatriating all illegals. We must end the disastrous economic consequences of the green ideological transition, and we will do this by reopening our nuclear power plants and freeing up the market so that our industry can do its work without the state interference that has so affected our automotive industry. We also need to reduce state regulation to benefit the market and the companies that are increasingly leaving our nation. We need to end the uncontrolled funding of left-wing organisations that are currently financed by the taxes of all Germans and which perpetuate a clientelist system of one-track thinking. A major priority of the AfD is to return to the traditional values of family and work that have historically enabled this nation to recover from world wars and deep crises. We are convinced that these ideas will help us reverse the decades of failed left-wing policies that have been promoted in recent years by all political parties in Germany that have governed.
The AfD has been subjected to a cordon sanitaire, despite being the largest party in Thuringia and the second largest in Saxony. This situation is encouraging the formation of coalition governments that could be described as ‘unnatural.’ What do you think of what is happening in Thuringia and Saxony?
First, it says a lot about the understanding of democracy that these parties have, but at the same time it shows that the CDU does not want a change of policy. Otherwise it would not seek coalitions with left-wing parties, but with the AfD instead. This result sends a clear signal to voters about the urgent need for a change of policy.
Unfortunately, the change for which voters are calling is being blocked by a multi-party alliance whose only unifying element is the exclusion of the AfD. To this day, these parties have prevented the legitimate election of AfD representatives to central positions, such as committee chairmen or parliamentary presidents. But with the growing weight of the AfD in the state parliaments, especially through the blocking minority we have achieved in two of the state parliaments, we will increasingly be able to overcome the undemocratic blocking policy of the established parties. This is a victory for democracy and for Germany, but above all for the German citizens who are the ones who express their will in the elections. As the events of the past few days have shown, the time of the traffic light coalition is over and Chancellor Olaf Schulz must call new elections.
I think that cordon has been broken in the European Parliament on one occasion.
The so-called firewall or cordon sanitaire has more weaknesses than one might initially assume. In the European Parliament, we were able to secure a majority for one of our amendments. The amendment called for “adequate funding for physical barriers at the Union’s external borders.” Some CDU deputies also voted in favour, which led to massive criticism from the Greens. Our amendments were an important first step towards a significant tightening of EU migration policy. This also led to the entire EU budget for 2025 being rejected because, naturally, left-wing factions no longer wanted to accept it.
Another example of how the so-called cordon sanitaire does not work is that, during the last week of meetings in Brussels, we pushed through some of the CDU’s amendments to the controversial EU Forest Protection Act. The Greens were furious. However, this probably brought considerable relief to the economy, as the associated regulations would impose unnecessary additional burdens on companies. In practice, we can present our positions in different ways and very successfully.
Polls seem to confirm a CDU victory. If its seats were decisive, would AfD support the CDU in the face of a new red-green coalition?
This will become clear in the situation and all options will certainly be considered in the relevant party committees. However, our co-federal spokesman and parliamentary group leader, Tino Chrupalla, recently expressed his scepticism towards CDU party leader Friedrich Merz in an interview. As long as the real interests of the former Blackrock manager Merz are not clarified, cooperation will probably be difficult. Moreover, the CDU’s biggest concern about Friedrich Merz at the moment seems to be that, between now and the new federal elections, there could be votes that would be decided by the AfD votes. That sounds very much like political self-castration to me.
Ultimately, it is the voters who determine what is feasible and realistic. The so-called cordon sanitaire is crumbling in more and more places, especially from below, from the grassroots. This process has even intensified since the last three state elections in the east. This is the encouraging thing about democracy: although the will of the voters can sometimes be controlled or temporarily delayed, in the long term it cannot be stopped or impeded. We recognize our political responsibility and are open to debate and cooperation with all constructive forces. Our goal is to work for Germany and to assume responsibility in a constructive way.
Trump has won by a landslide. What do you expect from the Republican candidate’s victory?
Apart from the fact that the interests of the United States are not the same as those of Europe, and Europe’s interests are not necessarily the same as those of Germany, I find the overwhelming result of the U.S. elections in favour of Donald Trump extremely encouraging. The importance of Trump’s victory confirms the marked global trend where citizens of the Western nations of the free world are putting a stop to far-left agendas that are far removed from reality. I think that the key to the result was that in these elections Trump managed to create a team that unites a group of highly qualified people from across the U.S. political spectrum to address the most urgent and real issues facing citizens.
I am particularly interested in the return to traditional values based on common sense, which seeks to end wars, stop the promotion of sex change for children in schools, limit the free market, and over-empower minorities at the expense of the rights of the majority. I am particularly interested in the role that Robert Kennedy Jr. will play in the COVID crisis, because we all need the answers that they have not wanted to give us, and also because of what he will do to limit the influence that “big pharma” has at the expense of the health of citizens. I am also interested in how Trump will approach the issue of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, because diplomatic channels should always prevail and, in this conflict, I have the impression that the interests of the arms industry and related industries counted more for the Biden administration than the deaths and nuclear risks that the war implies on the doorstep of Europe. Finally, I am interested in closely following the new administration in its role in reestablishing borders, stopping illegal immigration, deporting people who entered illegally, and improving the security of American citizens. It also seems to me that Trump wants to do something about the swamp of wokeness. In my opinion, this is all to be welcomed.
Regarding the war, Russia is investing more than 8% of its GDP in defence. Is AfD in favour of an increase in military spending in Germany?
It is undeniable that the Bundeswehr, which is the German Armed Forces, has been very much neglected in the last decades, especially by CDU-led ministers. Therefore, we see a real need to revalue its role in the state and increase military spending to strengthen its defence capability. However, the increase in military spending should respond to the geopolitical interests of our nation and not to the impositions of international organisations, such as NATO, which is what has happened in recent years.
On peace, taking into account that all diplomatic agreements signed so far, starting with the Budapest Memorandum, have been a dead letter, what security guarantees do you think should be provided to Ukrainians so that a new Russian invasion is not repeated?
The war between Ukraine and Russia must end. For more than 1,000 days, civilians and military personnel have been dying, and there seems to be little interest in resolving the conflict through diplomatic channels. As far as security guarantees for Ukraine are concerned, the AfD takes a critical stance. Even if we understand the difficult situation in Ukraine and condemn the Russian invasion that violated international law, we do not believe that Germany or the European Union should commit itself to automatic or unconditional security guarantees for Ukraine. For the AfD, the priority is to ensure national security and the security of German citizens: this war involves a significant nuclear risk that we want to mitigate urgently.
The memorandums and agreements have been violated in one way or another by both sides. From my perspective it was a mistake to move the borders of NATO, trying to integrate more and more nations all the way to Ukraine. Another mistake was to try to incorporate Ukraine into the European Union. If these aspects had not happened, perhaps today we would be collaborating with Russia in trade and in the resolution of other international problems or conflicts. However, due to the inoperativeness and incapacity of the rulers of the time, we are immersed in a very costly conflict, both in lives and money, which has unfortunately brought us to an aggressive, bipolar world, with a permanently latent risk of nuclear attacks.
We are against war and hope that this conflict can be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy based on a realistic assessment of the geopolitical situation. For the AfD, Germany should pursue its own foreign and security policy to avoid becoming an accomplice in a global conflict. We do not want to act as an extension of other countries or the EU.
You were recently in Argentina, a country that decades of socialism have led to misery. How do you assess Javier Milei’s revolution?
The country seems to me to be on the right track. Milei has reduced the number of ministries and overall government spending. He managed to reduce inflation from around 25% last December to the current 4.2%. People seem to associate Milei with the hope of ending the current economic crisis that is severely affecting society in general and especially the youth. In South America, the almost romantic word “revolution” is associated with political upheaval. I heard it over and over again in conversations. The curious thing is that revolution is not associated with leftist ideals, as in the past, but rather it is related to the need to banish the socialist model that has brought so much misery. Milei promised cuts and warned of the circumstantial pain that this would bring, and yet the majority of Argentines voted for him, especially the youth. It is the same phenomenon that happens with the AfD in Germany: the youth support us because they know that we are the only political party that wants to put an end to the extreme leftist ideas that have been promoted by those who have governed us in recent decades.
It is even more interesting to assess Milei’s revolution associated with Trump’s victory and an international context in which citizens, for various reasons, are forcing politics to swing the pendulum to the Right because the Left has brought us to global chaos.
What measures of the Argentine president would you copy for Germany and Europe?
While we share the urgent need to abandon the disastrous socialist model that has dominated politics in recent years in both nations, the problems of Germany and Argentina are broadly different. However, we share the challenges that an excessively extensive and paternalistic state implies. In that sense, Milei’s model is interesting in terms of dismantling the extensive state apparatus and allowing private entrepreneurs to compete freely. The German bureaucracy and tax system are excessive and create a real disadvantage for companies that are forced to forget our nation in favour of new, more flexible markets. This issue—which is not exclusive to Germany, but rather a trend promoted by the European Union—is of vital importance in the face of a new scenario that is being proposed with the new Trump administration, in which we will surely have an international market with greater competition and more protectionism.
Another aspect where we can take inspiration from Milei is his cultural battle, which involves the elimination of secretariats and state spending on gender issues and everything that has no scientific basis but which nevertheless seeks to impose itself as a single thought intolerant of citizen pluralism. I think that we urgently need to dismantle the ever-growing state apparatus. The German tax system is absurdly high and a real disadvantage. That is why we urgently need a fundamental reform that is favourable to performance and the family. We should greatly reduce the state quota. Gender research and other senseless left-wing projects financed by taxes, for example, can be cancelled without being examined. But we will also save billions of euros annually by reversing migration flows.
