Alice Weidel, co-chair of the AfD, gives a lecture entitled "Germany and Europe" at the Institute of the 21st Century. She had previously met Hungary's Prime Minister Orban. Photo: Marton Monus/dpa (Photo by Marton Monus / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)

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German AfD leader Weidel attacks ‘firewall’: ‘it doesn’t work’

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“There can be no better place in the world than Budapest to talk about how peace can be created in Europe,” according to Alice Weidel, co-chair of Germany’s most popular party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

She made her comments last night while in Budapest to give a speech at the Institute of the 21st Century (XXI Század Intézet).

Weidel also criticised the German Government’s policy on mass illegal migration, rising crime rates and weakening competitiveness.

She followed her speech with an exclusive interview with Brussels Signal, in which she said: “The European Union is not Europe. I think that we need to rebuild the European Union, back to sovereign nations with elected parliaments, elected representatives.

“We cannot continue like this very harmful, Soviet Union-like complex which does not respect democracy of sovereign nations.

“Brussels is responsible that our entire [German] industry is being destroyed,” Weidel said.

“It is forbidden to build combustion engines, it is forbidden to build heating systems in your private houses, all forbidden, and all these tons of bureaucratic rules, this is completely against the idea of a liberal market economy.”

She outlined her party’s strength in the polls now: “On a federal level, we are at 27 per cent, to be the strongest party in Germany, two to three per cent stronger than the Union, the party of the Chancellor [Friedrich Merz].”

As for the “firewall” that Merz’s Christian Democratic Union and other parliamentary parties have built against the AfD, Weidel said: “This firewall building doesn’t work.

“In a democracy, and this is exactly what the US Vice President Vance lined out on the Munich Security Conference, in a democracy, in a functioning democracy, there are no firewalls.

“You cannot do that anymore. You cannot build a firewall against the strongest party.”

Weidel was asked, “When are you going to be chancellor?”

She replied: “Let’s see if the voters will decide.”