EXCLUSIVE: German Rightist Politician Seeks Japan-Like Border Protection

July 17, 2018

Berlin- Germany, just like Japan, should protect its borders and strictly control refugees, Alice Weidel, parliamentary leader of right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), has said.

The decision German Chancellor Angela Merkel made in 2015 to accept refugees was "illegal," Weidel said in a recent interview with Jiji Press. The AfD is known for its anti-immigration stance.

"Protecting its borders is a nation's mission," she said. "Japan is doing that very well."

As long as the flow of refugees from outside Europe cannot be halted, immigration checks should be revived for travel within Europe, which is now allowed freely in principle, Weidel said.

On the argument that Germany cannot maintain its population and social security system without immigrants and refugees, she said, "If you want to solve demographic problems, you need qualified immigrants."

Weidel thus stressed the importance of distinguishing between immigrants and refugees.

Some people come from areas "shaped only by Islam," where the level of education is "very low," Weidel said, claiming that accepting refugees indiscriminately will eventually become a burden on the social security system.

She stressed that "reasonable family policies," such as a family-friendly tax system and the further integration of women into the labor market, are more important.

Elsewhere in the interview, the AfD leader in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, said the eurozone is facing the problem of not being able to adjust imbalances among member countries by using exchange rates.

"Historically, common currencies have never worked," she said. "Sooner or later, the eurozone will break up."

Weidel predicted that a crisis will hit the region in about 15 years, when the supply of euros is expected to run short due to massive insurance payments to retired baby-boomers.

In some recent opinion polls, AfD ranked second in approval rating, overtaking the Social Democratic Party of Germany, one of the two biggest political parties in Germany.

Weidel said conventional parties in Germany have seen their public support decrease because "they have lost touch with normal people."

"Most of AfD members are normal citizens and newcomers to politics. That is our advantage," Weidel, who once worked in the financial industry, said, expressing the party's resolve to become a ruling party in the country. Jiji Press