8/ The paper sets out a vision - and strategy - for an overhaul of the EU that would change it at its core. But unlike the 2025 programme, it does not mention replacing the EU or exiting the euro. This fits a shift many far-right parties have undergone: reshaping the EU from within to their liking

7/ On timeline once the AfD is in government: reforms possible under existing Treaty framework within 2-3 years, Treaty change and ratification within 5-7 years. German veto on own resources decision as leverage to enforce reform, opt-outs in the meantime

6/ On budget: “end of Germany’s paymaster role”. Capping and reduction of EU budget, abolition of VAT and plastics own resources. DE contribution drastically reduced, conditional on added value. No funding for values or democracy education programmes. Veto on ORD if no reform of EU financing system

5/ On primacy of EU law: National constitutions take precedence over EU secondary law, except in core tasks like internal market to ensure proper functioning. ECJ to become intergovernmental dispute settlement body, with no say on national competences or constitutional questions

4/ On institutions: No direct election of EP, but return to delegates from national parliaments. Commission reduced to “coordinating, executive” role, with European Council as central decision-maker. National right to veto in cases of subsidiarity breach

3/ On opt-outs: use of opt-outs in other areas (migration, tax and social policy, defence, financial redistribution) as transitional “corrective” until competences have been returned to national level. Opt-outs to be coordinated with like-minded member states and later enshrined in Treaties

2/ On competences: EU cooperation to be limited to areas with added value (internal market, external border protection, industrial cooperation on armaments, research, “preservation of Christian-Occidental heritage”). Deregulation as core demand: moratorium on new EU rules, end of Green Deal

1/ Goal is extensive slimming-down of EU along vision of Europe as confederation of sovereign nations and with preservation of cultural identity of European peoples as highest European task. If substantive changes cannot be achieved, a referendum is to be held on Germany’s future path in EU policy

Finally read the new AfD strategy paper on Europe. It casts 2029 as a “historic window” to reorient the EU’s foundations through Treaty change, with a right-wing majority in the EP and a German government with AfD participation both within reach. Thread on some notable points:

Rejecting the IAA because of opt-in/opt-out would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Trade relations are, obviously, important. But the IAA can be implemented in a way that it doesn't harm them. And the threat of exclusion to EU market can even open some export markets for the EU.

„Mit solchen Worten schadet man der Erinnerungskultur mehr als der Linken. Man kann schließlich nicht auf der einen Seite die Singularität des Holocausts betonen und auf der anderen Seite Auschwitz als tagespolitisches Kleingeld benutzen, wenn man nur Elif Eralp bekämpfen will“

News: Friedrich Merz gibt um 18 Uhr ein Statement im Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. Das ist jedenfalls ungewöhnlich.

Europe is heading into a super election year in 2027. Those elections will take place against a precarious security backdrop: war in Ukraine and Iran, a retreating US & Europeans increasingly worried about their own security. So shouldn’t this benefit the political centre? Not so fast. 🧵

The vote today in the EP on Ceuta was another case of the EPP voting together with the far-right (via @howtheyvote.eu). It was also a vote the EPP claimed showing a divide 'between those for stand for a strong Union' with EPP and far-right groups together on one side.