Who's running for German chancellor. 7 facts about Alice Weidel
The candidate of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AdG) is coming on the heels of the leader of the electoral race in Germany. In mid-December, polls showed that Alice Weidel's popularity rating among voters reached 21% - the same number only of conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who is called the most likely candidate for the post of Chancellor of Germany. What is known about Alice Weidel - in the material "Izvestia".
Fact 1: Her role model is Margaret Thatcher
In 2017, Weidel in an interview called the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher her political role model, noting that the "Iron Lady" came to power when the UK was in economic decline and restored it.
Following Thatcher, Weidel considers tax cuts and welfare payments necessary for economic recovery. The politician also proposes cuts in spending to achieve "zero emissions", which is costing Germany too much.
Fact 2: He favors restoring business and political ties with Russia
Alice Weidel calls for an end to all military aid to Ukraine and warns against further military escalation by the West. The politician expects that with the end of the war it will be possible to resume supplies of cheap natural gas from Russia.
Weidel believes that the loss of energy supplies from Russia has led to a crisis in the German chemical and automotive industries. According to her, Germany does not have to fear the duties promised by US President-elect Donald Trump against German automakers: due to high energy prices in Germany, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz plants are "already in the US".
Fact 3. Well-educated and knows Chinese
Alice Weidel received a degree in business and economics from Bayreuth University in Germany. After graduation, she worked as an analyst in the asset management department at Goldman Sachs, the world's largest investment bank. She received the title of Doctor of Economics.
To write her doctoral dissertation on the PRC pension system, Weidel moved to Beijing in 2006 on an academic exchange program. As the best student, she was a scholarship holder of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which supports Christian Democratic and liberal parties, and interned at the Bank of China. During six years of living in China, the politician learned Mandarin Chinese.
Fact 4: In favor of leaving the EU and the return of the German mark
Alice Weidel believes that the EU should be reformed to restore sovereignty to member states, eliminate the "democratic deficit" and reduce the powers of the EU's unelected executive body, the European Commission.
Weidel does not support the idea of a single European currency and insists that Germany must leave the EU if it fails to reform the EU in line with the AdG's vision. She condemned the complicated and bureaucratic Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU. - Ed.) procedure and said that it should be easier for countries to leave the EU and that the free trade agreement should be preserved by default.
Fact 5: She is backed by Ilon Musk
Alice Weidel and the AdG party welcomed the victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US election. The agendas of the German right and Trump overlap in many ways, with the main common motive being the fight against migrants. In particular, Weidel favors a "Canadian system" of migration, where advantage is given to skilled professionals.
In December, American billionaire and Trump associate Ilon Musk published a tweet under Weidel's photo in support of the AdG, saying that he did not consider the right-wing politics extremist and that only this party "can save Germany." The publication caused a scandal: German politicians accused Musk of interfering in the election.
Fact 6: Her family had past ties to the Nazis
As one of the leaders of the AdG, Alice Weidel calls on Germany to abandon the "cult of shame" for the atrocities of the Nazi era. That said, her grandparents were members of the Nazi party. Her grandfather, Hans Weidel, served in the Waffen-SS as a legal advisor from 1933, and in 1941 became a military judge in the Warsaw commandant's office and sentenced opponents of the Third Reich.
After the war, the family was expelled from Silesia and moved to East Westphalia, an event also mentioned by Alice Weidel herself. The case against Hans Weidel was dismissed for lack of evidence, allowing him to open his own law firm and seek compensation for lost property in Upper Silesia.
Fact 7: LGBT* candidate from the far right
Alice Weidel is an open lesbian: she is in partnership with Sri Lankan film producer Sarah Bossard and lives in Switzerland, where she is raising two adopted sons. Weidel, meanwhile, opposes same-sex marriage and discussing homosexuality with children under the age of majority and supports the preservation of traditional gender roles.
For the AdG, which is considered extremist in Germany, the nomination of such a candidate for chancellor was a deliberate move to attract those who were repelled by the party's excessive radicalism. In addition, Weidel has been described as a good speaker who can resonate with any audience.
*recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation
