German divide ~ II

When Merkel stepped down in 2021, she was hailed for saving the European Union but many hold her responsible for having destabilized Germany and the politics of the continent. Gavin Mortimer points out that Merkel primarily is responsible for the resurgence of right-wing and nationalist parties across Europe. 'The AfD as well as Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders and Giorgia Meloni all owe a debt of gratitude to Angela Merkel'

- Gavin Mortimer

The AfD when founded in 2013 had the reputation of being an old man's club dissatisfied with Angela Merkel's fiscal and foreign policies. Its founding members were those who advocated disengagement from the European Union (EU) in stark contrast to Merkel championing the cause of greater European integration. The AfD protested at the Euro as the EU's sole currency and rejected the bailouts of EU member countries in the aftermath of the euro-zone debt crisis. Sixty fellow conservatives of Merkel voted against her proposal to support a bailout for Greece in 2015.

In the elections held that year, the AfD received a little over two million votes and no seats in the Bundestag. Merkel's declaration on 31 August 2015 that 'Germany is a strong country...We have achieved so much - we can do it' and throwing open Europe's doors to an unknown number of refugees and migrants was at odds with her admission in 2010 of the failure of multiculturalism.

The priorities of AfD shifted with these new initiatives. With a record number of migrants, more than one million entering Germany from Syria and Afghanistan which Merkel described as a humanitarian emergency, the AfD viewed it as invasion of foreigners. It became explicitly anti-Muslim as most of the migrants from Syria were Muslims.

When Merkel stepped down in 2021, she was hailed for saving the European Union but many hold her responsible for having destabilized Germany and the politics of the continent. Gavin Mortimer points out that Merkel primarily is responsible for the resurgence of right-wing and nationalist parties across Europe. "The AfD - as well as Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders and Giorgia Meloni - all owe a debt of gratitude to Angela Merkel".