AfD: No longer for amateurs

Inside the party convention at Congress Center Bremen on Saturday, Bernd Lucke of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) tried to explain to more than 1,600 members of his right-wing euroskeptic party why he was keen to change his party's structure from three leaders to one.

Lucke said the current leadership structure was "amateurish" and in need of "professionalization."

"We are not a bowling club," the party co-chair added.

Three to become one

Lucke's wish came true: several hours later, the AfD voted to have just one chairperson as of December. Lucke said the candidates for the post will not be announced until spring, but it is widely accepted that he sees himself in the position.

The new structure also includes a party secretary and vice chair, leaving possible space at the top for current co-chairs Frauke Petry and Konrad Adam, who since 2013 have helped Lucke turn the small far-right anti-euro party into a steadily growing movement with seats in several state parliaments as well as at the EU level.

Petry, however, also had some criticism for the leadership, condemning Lucke's support for sanctions against Russia in the European Parliament, of which he is a member as part of the AfD and a multinational anti-euro coalition. According to flyers lying on every flat surface in the hall, it's the US and NATO who are expanding their empires, not Russia.

In spite of Petry's critique, Lucke's supporters were not shy about showing their jubilation at the former professor's success.

Thousands march against 'AfD, PEGIDA and Co'

Outside on the streets of Bremen, however, around 7,000 people were willing to stand in the bitter cold for hours to voice their displeasure with Lucke and his AfD colleagues convening in their city.

Demonstrators carried signs with slogans like "AfD, PEGIDA and Co, out of Bremen!" and "Alternative to Intolerance," referencing the weekly marches held until-recently by the "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West" (PEGIDA).

"The choice of Bremen was strategic," said co-organizer Nelson Jansen to DW. "They are trying to gather support in the west of Germany." Until now, AfD has only been elected to state governments in the former East Germany.

"They are not a party like any other," Jansen added. "They stand only for nationalism."

More than 100 left-leaning groups, including extreme leftists Antifa (Anti-Fascist), as well as local branches of trade unions, took part in the march. Decrying the "fascists" in the AfD, the demonstrators marched from Am Brill, a square in the middle of the city, to the steps of the congress center. There, they called on the AfD to answer for their stance on immigration and integration, which is seen as racist and islamophobic.

The party members stood on the balcony of the convention center, some waving at the protestors and taking pictures, other booing and shouting.

The marchers cut a stark contrast to the convention attendees, who were largely male and, it seemed, over the age of 40. The AfD is regularly called the "professor's party" by the media, and criticized for representing only a very specific demographic.

A younger alternative

Not so, said Hagen Weiss, the 25-year-old vice president of the Young Alternative (JA) and a student of European public administration. He told DW that the issues the AfD deals with greatly affect young people.

Weiss gave the euro as an example. The common European currency affects "the prosperity and wealth of Germany in the future...we won't have any money" if European law continues to be "breached by certain parties" in the form of bailouts to countries like Greece, and that, Weiss explained "will affect us, the youth."

As for their immigration policy, Weiss pointed to Canada as the "idol" to emulate, saying the AfD would like to implement a system similar to that nation's "skilled worker point grid," which assesses highly-qualified potential immigrants based on a number of factors such as language competency, education, age and work experience.

"We want to quantify and qualify the people we would like to have here," Weiss said, calling the current immigration laws "no policy at all" and having a "certain connection" to the rising threat of terrorism in Europe.