{"id":568239,"date":"2025-11-13T19:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/568239\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T19:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:17:30","slug":"far-right-afd-leaders-remark-deepens-party-rift-in-germany-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/568239\/","title":{"rendered":"Far-right AfD leader\u2019s remark deepens party rift in Germany \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poland<\/a> poses as much of a threat to Germany<\/a> as Russia<\/a>, a leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)<\/a> has argued, deepening a dispute within the party over its stance on Moscow.<\/p>\n

That remark by AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla was challenged by fellow leader Alice Weidel and comes amid a row over attendance of AfD politicians at a conference in the Russian seaside resort of Sochi.<\/p>\n

Weidel said she \u201ccan\u2019t imagine what one would do there, to be honest, I would have stayed here\u201d. But Chrupalla supported the visit, approved by the party foreign affairs committee and paid for by the taxpayer, \u201cas important to avoid a war, a bigger war in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a television talkshow, the East German-born Chrupalla defended the Russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a> saying, \u201che\u2019s done nothing to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see no threat at the moment from Russia, Putin hasn\u2019t even threatened to attack us with a nuclear weapon,\u201d he said, insisting that many countries could be viewed as a danger to German interests.<\/p>\n

Pressed, Chrupalla pointed to Warsaw\u2019s recent refusal to extradite to Germany a suspect accused of blowing up the Nordstream gas pipeline: \u201cOf course Poland can be a danger for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AfDAfD co-leader Alice Weidel. Photograph: Clemens Bilan\/EPA <\/p>\n

His remarks \u2013 popular with East German-socialised voters \u2013 pose a problem for western AfD politicians and Alice Weidel.<\/p>\n

In recent months she has moved the party closer to the Trump<\/a> administration and has criticised Moscow\u2019s foot-dragging in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AfD defence spokesman R\u00fcdiger Lucassen was equally critical of Chrupalla\u2019s \u201cabstruse theories\u201d, noting Russia had shown \u201cno readiness to move in the direction of peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking about Poland as a danger has nothing to do with politics,\u201d he told the Bild tabloid. \u201cPoland is a Nato<\/a> partner, our respective armed forces are closely integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Weidel has criticised Russian violation of its neighbours\u2019 air space, Chrupalla insists there is no evidence that drones used were Russian.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has pounced on the row as proof that Chrupalla is a \u201cRussian Trojan horse\u201d. However, political analysts see the row as a deliberate party strategy to keep two disparate support groups happy.<\/p>\n

A new poll released on Thursday, but taken last week before Russia row, has seen the AfD reach a new high of 26 per cent.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Far-right AfD\u2019s vote triples in elections in German bellwether stateOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The ARD public television poll places the governing centre-right CDU one point ahead in first place with 27 per cent support while its coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) is on 14 per cent.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the coalition parties have lost four points since election day last February while the AfD has gained five points. Beyond numbers, the poll offered deeper insights into the AfD\u2019s supporters and motivations. <\/p>\n

Disappointment with other parties\u2019 policies is the most common reason for backing the AfD, given by 60 per cent of all voters and 39 per cent of AfD voters. The same poll suggested that the far-right party has almost exhausted its natural potential \u2013 the number of supporters of other parties who could imagine also voting for it. <\/p>\n

AfD voter potential, according to the poll, lies at 28 per cent, two points above its current support. The same analysis suggested the CDU\u2019s potential support is, at 50 per cent, nearly double its current popularity.<\/p>\n

Asked whether other political parties should change their current strategy and co-operate with the AfD, 40 per cent backed ongoing exclusion, 25 favoured full co-operation while 30 per cent were open to alliances on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

Readiness to co-operate rises to 46 per cent among CDU voters, raising pressure on party leader Friedrich Merz. He insists there will be no such co-operation while he while he is chancellor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poland poses as much of a threat to Germany as Russia, a leader of the far-right Alternative for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[90813,32,1824,69751,770,332,9041,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-568239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-afd-alternative-for-germany","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","12":"tag-poland","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-ukraine-crisis","15":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115544001964605129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}