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Ajish P Joy
Ajish P Joy

INTERVIEW

We face a Muslim invasion

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Interview/ Jorg Meuthen, co-head, Alternative for Deutschland

SUAVE AND soft spoken, Prof Jorg Meuthen leads the AfD, the German right wing party. An academic by training, Meuthen entered politics quite late. But he has risen through the ranks of the AfD very quickly and now serves as the co-head of the party. He is also the leader of opposition in the German province of Baden-Wurttemberg. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he spoke about the rise of right wing politics in Europe and explained his party’s agenda. Excerpts:

How do you explain the popularity of parties like the AfD?

We are rising because the traditional conservative parties do not realise what the ordinary people are thinking and what their worries are. For example, the ruling Christian Democratic Union in Germany has changed more into a left party. There is not a single genuine conservative party, which has created a vacuum. It was here that we went in, as we want to save our kind of living which is in danger.

Your views on migrations have been controversial.

Germany cannot be the saviour of the whole world. There are millions who want to come to Europe, but Germany is the only country which has completely opened its borders. And we are faced with so many problems, as a majority of the refugees come from the Muslim world. That is a different culture. They have no democratic tradition. They don’t treat women equally like we do. Many of them are not willing to accept our laws and adapt to our way of living. We have a Christian tradition, not a Muslim one. As a democratic country, we accept that there are different religions and cultures, but if someone wants to come to our country, they have to accept our way of living. Millions of young Muslims coming in are not willing to do that. So we are in danger of losing our own country. It is an invasion that we are facing. If we allow this to continue, people will be afraid of the future, will turn more and more radical and we could have a civil war.

So, are you completely opposed to immigration?

We have very few babies in our country. So, we can take in around 1,00,000 to 2,00,000 people a year. We, in fact, welcome educated and qualified people from countries like India. People from Asian countries like India, Cambodia and Vietnam will learn the language and integrate very quickly. But people coming from Muslim countries are not willing to do so.

Why do you oppose the euro and the European Union?

We think we need different currencies for different countries of Europe, not necessarily 27 currencies, but more than one. It is not fair to have the same currency for Greece and Germany. We want to get out of euro, not the EU. We don’t want to exit the EU, but reform it. They are now doing a lot of things which they should not be doing and they are not doing things which they should be doing, like finding a common solution to the migration crisis. Instead they are making regulations about how our coffee machines should work, or how big a pizza should be.

What is your position on homosexuality and gay marriage?

We are not in support of gay marriage. The homosexuals have their rights, civil unions are OK for them, but not marriage. A family should be a union of a man and a woman. So, they should not be allowed to get married, adopt children or resort to artificial means of procreation.

Is President Trump turning into a liability for the European right?

I think President Trump is trying to run the country not like a political leader. He wants to run the US like a business enterprise. When Ronald Reagan became president, many people ridiculed him. But he surrounded himself with some really great minds and ended up becoming one of the greatest American presidents. George W. Bush, on the other hand, refused to do so and we all know what happened. So, it is a choice Trump has to make.

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