Alice Weidel presents AfD plan to shift EU powers to national governments

Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), presented her party’s proposals to shift power away from EU institutions during a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 21 October 2026, DW reported. The proposals would substantially change how the bloc makes decisions if adopted.

Weidel said the plan rested on three principles: subsidiarity, responsibility and sovereignty. She argued that decision-making powers should sit at the lowest possible level and objected to the European Commission intruding on private decisions, according to DW. Those principles frame the party’s case for giving national governments a larger role.

What the AfD proposes for EU institutions

The paper also proposes cutting and capping the EU budget, freezing staffing levels and abolishing agencies, according to Politico. The party wants Germany to seek exemptions from common rules on migration, taxation, social policy, defence and joint borrowing. It would seek further opt-outs in areas including green policy if broader changes were refused.

Politico reported that the AfD does not initially propose leaving the EU or eurozone. Instead, its paper calls for renegotiating EU treaties and reducing the bloc’s powers and budget. It says the party would threaten to cut Germany’s contributions if its demands were rejected and seek a referendum on EU membership if reform failed.

The party’s proposed timetable

The paper identifies 2029, when European Parliament and German federal elections are due, as the point to begin implementing the proposed changes, Politico reported. Weidel’s Strasbourg presentation follows the previously announced plan to unveil the proposals; it does not itself put any of them into effect.

Politico’s account of the paper also describes proposals to give larger eurozone economies more voting power at the European Central Bank and reject a digital euro. Taken together, the changes would affect EU voters, national governments and the bloc’s institutions by redirecting authority toward member states. The AfD would need political support beyond its own party to pursue that agenda.