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The AfD had waited a long time for this. Seven years after its founding, the party adopted a pension plan. After several hours of debate, 88.6 percent of the delegates at the party’s federal conference in Kalkar approved a key proposal on social policy.
The main features of the document in which the pension is the core were already drawn up in the spring as a compromise between the economically liberal side and supporters of the PAYG system around Albrecht Glaser, chairman of the commission of the federal AfD program.
The party’s co-leader, Jörg Meuthen, had once campaigned for a long-term exit from the current system and a move toward a more funded pension, but was not successful internally. He carried the main motion, as he assured the Phoenix broadcaster on Saturday morning.
In the main motion, the AfD is committed to the welfare state, the social market economy and “to solidarity and mutual aid within our people.” The concept of pension is described in the actual core of the document, which includes:
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The AfD wants a flexible retirement. “Those who work more receive a correspondingly higher pension,” they say.
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In the future, politicians should contribute to the legal pension.
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In the fight against poverty in old age, he wants to put low-income people in a better position than “people who were largely unemployed.”
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As far as families are concerned, parents must “repay” € 20,000 of their own pension contributions from each child’s tax income. With a »division of the tax family«, a »paradigm shift« should begin at this point, complemented by an early retirement »depending on the number of children«.
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The chapter “Strengthening the private provision” establishes that the State must make an “additional payment” of 100 euros per month “in the savings accounts” of the respective children up to the age of 18 for each child “of German nationality and center of his life in Germany.
The AfD also wants to regulate the payments officials make to the pension fund. The activities of public officials should be limited to “for example, the armed forces, customs, police, financial administration and justice.” The “majority of future state employees,” on the other hand, should pay for statutory pension insurance, according to the main application.
The debate also called for special payments to parents for each child amounting to € 20,000 in pension only be granted to “German citizens”. But AfD speakers pointed out that anyone who has worked as a foreigner in Germany for 20 years should also receive these payments. The point was finally referred to the responsible technical committee for further discussion.
A passage on Corona was included with a large majority. They criticize “the crown of panic measures taken by the federal government.” National measures, such as closures and the requirement for masks, are requested to be replaced as soon as possible by appropriate means for the specific protection of risk groups; all affected areas of the economy and culture must be reopened immediately.
Springer’s “citizenship money” is not in dispute
At the party congress, a request from the AfD member of the Bundestag, René Springer, was eagerly awaited, which foresees a basic income of around 500 euros per month. The concept of “citizenship money”, conceived as a right-wing socio-political response to left-wing ideas about basic income, was supported by the two co-chairs Tino Chrupalla and Jörg Meuthen. It stipulates that people who earn enough pay less income tax at the end of the year. Foreigners, including EU citizens, are not included. According to the concept, it is only “conceivable” that “integrated foreigners with the right of permanent residence” receive basic income when they have obtained taxable income for ten years and, therefore, have been able to earn a living.
However, the majority of the application was not admitted for referral. Not for content reasons. Glaser, an AfD politician, complained that he was never advised by the party’s committees.
Narrow victory for Meuthen-Lager in Kalbitz by-elections
The party’s federal conference in the Lower Rhine was subject to strict hygiene and distance requirements, which the party must comply with after a failed lawsuit before the Higher Administrative Court in Münster. The masks must be worn inside and outside the room, every 50 minutes the room had to be aired for ten minutes.
The Kalkar Ordnungsamt stated that “in general” the delegates – 540 out of 600 had come – adhered to the rules. At first, party co-leader Tino Chrupalla had campaigned for what the AfD shows that a federal party conference can also be held under Corona.
The surprise, however, was the appearance of federal co-president Jörg Meuthen. In his speech he harshly criticized the right-wing part of the party, the protests of the “lateral thinking” movement, indirectly also the honorary president of the AfD, Alexander Gauland, and the rhetoric of some members of the AfD: “We will not achieve any more success. becoming more and more aggressive, they seem more and more crude, more and more uninhibited. ” He indirectly distanced himself from Gauland’s phrase about the “dictatorship of the Crown” when he said: “We do not live in a dictatorship, otherwise we could hardly hold this party conference today.” Right-wing Björn Höcke later told the ARD that Meuthen’s speech was “a big mistake.” (Read more details here).
Contrary to the original plan, staff elections were also held on Saturday. The so-called moderate camp was able to enforce three representatives on the federal executive board: Carsten Hütter was the new treasurer with a narrow result, and his deputy Christian Waldheim, who was also elected with an extremely narrow 50.1 percent in a second round. Former AfD politician Andreas Kalbitz has also served as an observer on the federal executive board. In May, Meuthen enforced the cancellation of Kalbitz’s party membership through a board resolution, deepening the division in the AfD.
The choice of advisers was therefore also a test of Meuthen’s position in the party. Hessian member of the Bundestag Joana Cotar ran as a candidate for her supporters. Only in a second round did he beat Saxon MEP Maximilian Krah, with around 52 percent. Meuthen is likely to have expanded his narrow majority on the 15-member federal board. In his speech, Cotar, who was born in Romania, had declared that he wanted to “save Germany.” The 47-year-old, previously briefly at the CDU, also used the usual AfD rhetoric. The German minority in Romania knows how to “preserve German culture”, they turned against “the supervised thinking of public broadcasting”. But he also said: The AfD “must become more pleasant.”
The party congress continues on Sunday. Possibly with a motion by members of the extreme right against Meuthen. The Freiburg district board, in which AfD politician Dubravko Mandic participates, calls for the “divisive behavior” of Meuthen and his supporters to be disapproved. Whether this will be successful is questionable. Mandic had already failed on Saturday, requesting to exclude the media from the party’s congress.
Editor’s note: Due to the situation of the crown, the SPIEGEL reporter is not following the party congress on the site, but in front of the TV screen and on the live broadcast.
