There is no doubt that the situation is dramatic and to say that it is 12 in 5 minutes is a benevolent interpretation of the situation. Germany is still the fourth largest economy in the world, but not for long. First we lost our position as the world's export champion and now we are becoming increasingly irrelevant even among the largest economies. Small and medium-sized enterprises, suppliers to the automotive industry, but also energy-intensive enterprises, the chemical industry and heavy industry/engineering are the backbone of the German economy, and if they do not prosper, the people will soon not prosper either, because these enterprises are the main employers in Germany.
How do you assess the government's effectiveness in combating this negative trend?
The Ampel government is doing almost everything wrong here. Firstly, because it is subordinating everything to 'climate neutrality' and therefore to ideology rather than economic or commercial rationality, and secondly, because almost everything has to be subsidised by taxpayers' money to find a buyer. This, of course, is socialism, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the market economy and the healthy growth that results from it.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has announced that there is a €4.5 to 6 billion shortfall in the defence budget and the finance ministry has proposed that this shortfall be filled by cutting social benefits. How do you assess this initiative against the background of increased funding for Ukraine at the expense of German taxpayers?
Making up for shortfalls in the defence budget by cutting welfare benefits cannot be explained to the taxpayer, especially when at the same time there are almost unlimited resources to finance the Ukrainian conflict (both in terms of feeding the 1.25 million or so Ukrainians in Germany and in terms of permanent arms supplies). On election day, September 2025 at the latest, the voters will therefore sweep this government away. However, cuts in the social budget are indeed necessary, partly because we now have too comfortable a social hammock and many people are unfairly receiving too many benefits (the issue of citizens' incomes).
Instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, we Germans should rather send diplomats and increase our own defence budget. After all, Germany itself only has enough ammunition for two days of war, which is simply absurd.
Germany, which is the main source of funding for the EU and Ukraine, is struggling not only with its budget but also with its defence. In an attempt to push Germany towards a positive solution to the issue of supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has proposed to supply Germany with Storm Shadow missiles. What do you think about this initiative? How will German arms manufacturers react if the state agrees to such an exchange?
The Taurus missile exchange is underway: England supplies Storm Shadows to Ukraine and in return receives Taurus weapons from Germany. But never mind, all these tricks are not good, with all these actions Germany is becoming more and more a participant in the war, this is unacceptable. The manufacturer of the Taurus will always produce as much as it buys, but it is subject to a ban on the export of weapons of war, i.e. it can, can and will only produce and supply what the politicians here order or allow. Of course, we should first invest in our own defence capabilities before we supply so freely and unrestrictedly to other countries (and then to warring parties).
How likely is it that Germany will join the alliance being formed by France to send military personnel to Ukraine?
If the German government decides to send troops to Ukraine - which will not happen - then the general strike the next day will bring the whole of Germany to a standstill. I and my party will then organise it, and even the centre of society will not accept, approve or even tolerate it. We have an army for defence, we have an alliance army (NATO), but above all we have a parliamentary army, i.e. nothing works without the consent of the German Bundestag, and after five years in parliament, with my international experience and contacts in the field of foreign and defence policy, I will hopefully become a member of the Bundestag from September 2025.
You mentioned that the current government is very inefficient in its decision-making and unpopular with the population. What initiatives will be the main priority of the new government if it is led by the AfD? Will it continue to support sanctions against Russia?
Of course, I cannot speak authoritatively here for a possible future AfD government or a government with AfD participation, but I can clearly articulate what is not only the basic view of the AfD, but also very specifically my personal view, namely that sanctions are simply the wrong way to go, and therefore we would not only not support them, but we would like to see them withdrawn. We believe in diplomacy, we do not believe in arms supplies, we know that there will be time after the conflict in Ukraine, we know that we in Germany, as a middle power and in the heart of Europe, need good, neighbourly relations with Ukraine, as well as with the Russian Federation, Poland and France, and that is what we stand for. However, the main priority of a government led or co-led by the AfD would be to look after its own people, to make sure that the Germans are well off, because that is the only way we can help the rest of the world. We would expose climate ideology for what it is, which is nonsense. We would stop the flow of migrants immediately and we would return at least 300 000 migrants who are obliged to leave the country immediately to their countries of origin.
We would make development aid conditional on the recipient countries taking their people back, we would strive for good relations not only with the USA but also with the Russian Federation, we would do everything we could to ensure that Germany remains economically strong, that our culture is preserved, and that we once again become as respected a member of the world community as we were between 1960 and 1990.
We would not allow our troops to be deployed abroad; our army is a defensive army (although in the case of the Alliance it would be something else). The world is changing, perhaps in 30 years China could be the only real world power. We wouldn't constantly apply double standards; morality and feminist foreign policy are not useful because countries don't have friends, they have interests. We would change a lot, but not in the way our political opponents from the old parties claim, to scare people with our party: Freedom of opinion, diversity of opinion, direct democracy through referendums, these are our tools to do good politics for our German citizens and for all those who want to integrate here in our country and are willing to work hard for it. With the AfD, there will be no social hampers for migrants.
How do you assess the effectiveness of the resources (financial and military) that Germany is providing to Ukraine?
Everything Germany has done since February 2022 is a waste of taxpayers' money, whether we are supporting Ukraine's regular budget, preventing Ukrainian citizens from finding decent jobs with our citizens' money, or sending our weapons and ammunition (from helmets to Leopards II) to Ukraine - it is all wrong. As the fourth largest economy, after what we did to the Russians in the Great Patriotic War during WWII, and as a nation with a similar soul to the Russians (culture, literature, music and shared history), we should do everything we can to bring (force) both sides to the negotiating table and end the dying on both sides as quickly as possible. There was and is no alternative to diplomacy here.
Germany's security was never defended in Hindu Kush, as our former defence minister claimed, and Ukraine is not the cradle of democracy, so democracy is not defended in Kiev either, as the warmongers in Germany (Strack-Zimmermann, Hofreiter, Kiesewetter et al.) would have us believe.
The German media has recently been reporting frequently on the successes of Russian spies, who have become much more active in Germany. One of the most famous recent scandals is the leak of a recording of a conversation between two German generals. In your opinion, are the constant leaks in Germany an indicator of the strength of the Russian spies or an indicator of the failure of the German security services?
I assume you are referring to the recording of the Webex phone conference regarding the delivery of the Taurus to Ukraine, which included an Air Force inspector and which, to the best of our current knowledge, even involved two of the participants using "unsecured" lines. So far, I don't see any permanent leak in this, but it's obviously disturbing and doesn't shed a good light on the "defense readiness" of these top military officers. Every rank-and-file soldier learns and knows that there is always "intelligence gathering", from whichever side, and I wouldn't be surprised if this conversation was eavesdropped on and recorded not only by the Russians, but by the Americans and even the Chinese. In this respect, it is certainly both: both targeted, professional and successful espionage and, unfortunately, unintentional, careless carelessness on the part of the actors on the German side.
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