Insurgent German AfD Party Burnishes Economic Credentials With Opposition To TTIP

Seeking to move away from their reputation as a single-issue party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is pushing their economic manifesto, including a strong principled opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Having achieved record results in this weekend’s local elections, AfD is now looking forward to their manifesto relaunch, and have started trailing their flagship economic policies.

The focus on the far-reaching TTIP deal could see the party return in some measure to their roots as an economically focussed party, originally founded to oppose the Euro single currency. Of late the party has been better known as the loudest voice of dissent against Chancellor Merkel’s migrant policy, making the most outspoken calls to close the borders and repel illegal migrants.

Following themes already established during political party broadcasts and literature distributed for the latest elections in which the concerns of small and medium business owners were addressed, AfD leader has said these wealth creators should band together to oppose TTIP, reports Euractive. Now a household name in Germany, AfD leader Dr. Frauke Petry said her party didn’t oppose TTIP because it would open national markets up to international corporations but rather because it would be overriding the rule of law to do so.

Speaking of the forthcoming manifesto launch, Baden-Württemberg AfD leader Jörg Meuthen said: “We have a lot of economic know-how, which will be illustrated in the party’s manifesto at the beginning of May, end of April”.

Opposition to TTIP is potentially a rich seam of political support for a party like AfD, as it appeals to voters from both the left and the right of the political spectrum and ties in with rising Euro-scepticism in Germany. The EU has continued to push for TTIP despite widespread discomfort over exactly what the deal would entail and how it will impact on European economies, yet this is a fact that has so far been little rejected at the ballot box.

As Breitbart London reported in Feburary, one other political faction opposing TTIP is the Green movement, with activists calling it: “a threat for democracy, environmental protection, health standards and working conditions”. It is claimed the deal will disempower ordinary Europeans and hand that to big businesses.

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