Germany's Wagenknecht Alliance to fight EU election on anti-EU policy

The new breakaway party in German politics, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), says it wants to dismantle the European Union and abolish the current climate protection policy if successful in European elections.

Among the party's plans is the abolition of CO2 certificates trading.

"This certificate trade is completely unsuitable for achieving climate policy goals," states the new party's draft European election programme. It also calls for the indefinite use of combustion engines and a return to imports of oil and gas from Russia.

The draft was made available to dpa in advance. The newspaper Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung had initially reported on it.

The BSW was founded last week and intends to run for the first time in the European elections on June 9. The draft programme is to be discussed at a party conference on January 27.

The paper fundamentally criticizes the EU in its current form and calls for it to be dismantled.

"The EU in its current form is detrimental to the European idea," it says.

"What can be regulated better and more democratically at a local, regional or national level must not be left to the regulatory frenzy of the EU technocracy," it adds.

If necessary, Germany should not adhere to EU rules, the draft says. The BSW advocates "the non-implementation of EU regulations at national level if they run counter to economic reason, social justice, peace, democracy and freedom of expression."

This would be a radical departure from the principle that EU rules are binding for all 27 member states. They are currently negotiated by the governments together with the EU Parliament.

The draft BSW programme also states that the EU budget should not be allowed to grow any further and that the EU should not receive any revenue of its own. In addition, no new members should join for the time being, not even Ukraine. The party says that "a moratorium on EU enlargement" is needed.

The draft also campaigns for more independence from the US.

"Europe must become an independent player on the world stage instead of being a pawn in the conflict between the major powers and a vassal of the US," the draft says.

Europe should also "no longer be a digital colony of the United States," but needs an independent digital infrastructure.

It goes on to say: "The war in Ukraine is a bloody proxy war between NATO and Russia." The war may have been "started militarily by Russia, but it could have been prevented by the West and ended long ago," the document says.

Thge BSW advocates a ceasefire and peace negotiations. "In order to motivate Russia to enter into negotiations, an immediate stop to all arms exports to Ukraine should be offered in this case," the paper states.

In terms of migration policy, the draft reiterates Wagenknecht's well-known position: the need for asylum procedures at the EU's external borders or in third countries, and combating the causes of flight.

Wagenknecht also criticizes what she sees as a network of control operated by the media and governments working together.

"In the attitude of a modern Ministry of Truth, many politicians and journalists or the so-called fact-checkers today claim to determine what is right and what is wrong," she said.

Part of this is the EU's Digital Services Act, which she says must be withdrawn. The European Commission set up the Act to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected.