01:53Germany: New political party wants southern countries expelled from euro
Germany: New political party wants southern countries expelled from euro
At a press conference in Berlin on Monday, leaders from Germany's newly founded euro-sceptic Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party discussed critical themes including expelling poorer nations from the euro, the German government's reaction to the NSA and Edward Snowden scandals as well as other countries spying on Germany's superior technology. AfD, although only founded in February, received enough signatures since its founding to be able to participate in the upcoming September elections.
The AfD is largely comprised of economic experts and was publicly ignored by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during an interview with Der Spiegel, with the main point of contention between the AfD and her party, the Christian Democrats Union (CDU) being the position the AfD takes towards Germany and other countries leaving the eurozone. One of the core arguments made by the AfD is that the euro threatens to destroy European integration by forcing many countries, especially those in the south, into debt and poverty.
Founder of the AfD and former World Bank economist, Bernd Lucke said: "Our stance is that the euro rescue plan of the government is built completely wrong and it would be better to meet the crisis with controlled sovereign defaults and with an elimination of southern European countries from the euro, than with the continuation of credit aid that has almost no prospect of being fully paid back and at the same time keeps these countries in a very difficult and very long-lasting economic crisis."
Defence spokesman Gerold Otten voiced similar concerns about the actions of countries from southern Europe but in particular in relation to Germany: "That is, mainly from eastern Europe nations are spying on the German economy to get information about German development in certain projects which are secret and to get a competitive advantage out of that."
About US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Otten said he supports the US calling for his arrest, saying: "It's a criminal act what he did according to US law, and it would also be according to German law an act of criminal intention because he has made secrets, state secrets public, and that is I think in any country I think a criminal offence."
01:53NONE
Germany: New political party wants southern countries expelled from euro
At a press conference in Berlin on Monday, leaders from Germany's newly founded euro-sceptic Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party discussed critical themes including expelling poorer nations from the euro, the German government's reaction to the NSA and Edward Snowden scandals as well as other countries spying on Germany's superior technology. AfD, although only founded in February, received enough signatures since its founding to be able to participate in the upcoming September elections.
The AfD is largely comprised of economic experts and was publicly ignored by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during an interview with Der Spiegel, with the main point of contention between the AfD and her party, the Christian Democrats Union (CDU) being the position the AfD takes towards Germany and other countries leaving the eurozone. One of the core arguments made by the AfD is that the euro threatens to destroy European integration by forcing many countries, especially those in the south, into debt and poverty.
Founder of the AfD and former World Bank economist, Bernd Lucke said: "Our stance is that the euro rescue plan of the government is built completely wrong and it would be better to meet the crisis with controlled sovereign defaults and with an elimination of southern European countries from the euro, than with the continuation of credit aid that has almost no prospect of being fully paid back and at the same time keeps these countries in a very difficult and very long-lasting economic crisis."
Defence spokesman Gerold Otten voiced similar concerns about the actions of countries from southern Europe but in particular in relation to Germany: "That is, mainly from eastern Europe nations are spying on the German economy to get information about German development in certain projects which are secret and to get a competitive advantage out of that."
About US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Otten said he supports the US calling for his arrest, saying: "It's a criminal act what he did according to US law, and it would also be according to German law an act of criminal intention because he has made secrets, state secrets public, and that is I think in any country I think a criminal offence."