Alternative for Germany (AfD) has announced a political turn if she comes to power in to Germany the province of Saxony-Anhalt. She aspires to form a government on her own and wants her leading candidate, Ulrich Sigmund, to become prime minister of the province. The provincial branch of the AfD is considered by the security services to be "proven to be extremely right-wing".
In the draft program of its future government, the party announces far-reaching changes, writes DW.
Radical tightening of the asylum policy
"Deport from the first minute!" This is the main promise of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt in the event of an election victory. The goal is to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible, "as much as possible," according to the election program.
When it comes to asylum policy, the party announces the tightening of measures at all levels. He wants to apply pre-deportation detention more often, demands the introduction of mandatory work for asylum seekers and wants to cancel all funds intended for the integration of migrants. The AfD calls state-funded migrant aid offers an "asylum industry".
In addition, the party wants to exclude children and young people who do not have a permanent right of residence in Germany from joint education. The AfD also plans to establish a "remigration headquarters" in the state government, which would coordinate Saxony-Anhalt's asylum policy.
It is debatable which of these measures the provincial government should even implement. The introduction of special departments for refugees could, for example, be contrary to the rules of international and European law. The federal state, not the individual provinces, decides who can be deported and who can't.
Anti-immigration policy
AfD opposes immigration to Germany. In the program of the future government, he demands "a 180-degree turn in migration policy". The explicit aim is therefore to reduce the number of immigrants in Saxony-Anhalt.
However, the province has been suffering from a severe shortage of skilled labor for years, especially in the field of care for the sick and the elderly.
The AfD wants to solve the problem of the lack of professional labor by returning German experts who have emigrated. For this purpose, he intends to launch a "return program". As incentives, he plans the so-called "return premium", help in looking for an apartment and finding a place in kindergarten. All of this would be intended for families returning to Saxony-Anhalt from abroad.
It is not clear how many returnees AfD is counting on, nor how much money it intends to allocate for this "return program".
Saxony-Anhalt has been strongly affected by emigration for more than 30 years. No German federal state has lost more residents since German reunification in 1990.
Prominent economic experts, such as Reinde Gropp, president of the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, warn that the lack of skilled labor would drastically worsen if the AfD comes to power.
"Precisely highly qualified experts have alternatives. If they get the impression that they are not wanted or that they have to reckon with a hostile attitude towards them, they will decide for other regions", said Gropp in an interview with the "Welt" daily.
Approaching Russia
Germany's sixteen federal states have limited powers in foreign and security policy, but can influence political discussions. An eventual prime minister from the ranks of the AfD would have significantly more political weight.
When it comes to relations with Russia, the AfD in its election program demands a rapprochement with that country and the lifting of sanctions. Since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, Germany has largely suspended oil imports from Russia.
The request for the lifting of sanctions is mostly of a symbolic nature, because the federal province must respect the sanctions introduced at the federal level. Still, the AfD prime minister could impose new accents in the debate on the subject in the influential Bundesrat, home of Germany's federal states.
The AfD also wants to introduce the teaching of the Russian language in schools and, for this purpose, to target teachers whose mother tongue is Russian.
When it comes to Ukraine, the AfD tightens its tone and demands a "return offensive" for Ukrainian refugees. However, the specific deportation of Ukrainians from Germany cannot be decided at the provincial level. Those issues are governed by federal policy.
Establishment of civil guards
AfD's request to establish a kind of auxiliary police is particularly controversial. The regular police are "overburdened" with the task of guaranteeing security, according to the AfD in the program of the future government of Saxony-Anhalt.
"That is why, as the third pillar of the security architecture at the local level, we will establish a voluntary civil guard," the program states.
Prominent lawyer and criminologist Thomas Feltes from the Ruhr University in Bochum warns of the dangers of such an idea.
"The task of the police is to prevent dangers and guarantee the protection of the public. Only they are allowed to use force," Feltes writes in the author's text for the "Legal Times Online" portal.
A "citizen guard" or "citizen militia" would even have a negative impact on public safety, he believes.
"Where such groups operate, the fear of crime is only fueled, both among the participants and, above all, among everyone else, not just among 'concerned' citizens," explains Feltes.
History and culture
The central point of the program of the future AfD government is the so-called identity policy. The party wants to make a positive image of Germany part of its program and advocates a fundamentally different view of history.
The AfD calls dealing with German crimes committed during National Socialism "the perpetuation of the guilt complex." That is why they want to change the curriculum in schools.
The party also announces a fight against social diversity. Rainbow flags, as a symbol of social diversity, should be banned from schools.
The world-famous Bauhaus architecture, which flourished in Saxony-Anhalt, is rejected by the AfD as "too globalist" and demands a "patriotic cultural policy". In accordance with that, he plans to redistribute funds for the financing of culture.
In particular, numerous projects for the development of democracy, which receive state support for their work, would be affected. In its program, the AfD rejects any continuation of their funding.
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