German economy would be ‘ruined’ if it left the EU claims finance minister despite calls for ‘Dexit’
Germany’s Finance Minister has warned leaving the European Union would “ruin” its economy.
Christian Lindner, who is also the leader of the liberal-leaning Free Democratic Party, labelled Brussels’ single market of “utmost importance” to Berlin.
The remarks come shortly after populist politicians in Germany flirted with mimicking Britain’s departure from the bloc in a so-called “Dexit” referendum.
Alice Weidel, who leads the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, claimed the UK was “dead right” to sever ties with the EU and suggested Germany could hold its own poll on membership.
She told the Financial Times last month: “If a reform [of the EU] isn’t possible, if we fail to rebuild the sovereignty of the EU member states, we should let the people decide, just as Britain did.”
However, Lindner swatted away any talk of leaving the bloc in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Lindner said: “This is why we have to tell people, okay, you maybe are not in line with government policies but this is no reason for changing the complete system and for changing what our wealth is based on.”
Despite pro-EU sentiments overwhelmingly on display in Berlin, the AFD has managed to surge up the opinion polls in recent weeks.
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A recent survey conducted by INSA suggested the populist party leapfrogged Olaf Scholz’s SPD, who won the last election, to trail the centre-right Union in second place.
AFD support is hovering around 20 per cent, with the SDP in third on 15 per cent and Union opening up low double-digit leads at around 30 per cent.
There has been much speculation about what is fuelling a resurgence of the populist right.
Many point to immigration, discontent with the economy and issues such as the farmers’ crisis as reasons behind the AFD’s rise.
However, there is far less popular support for Germany leaving the European Union.
Germany is much more supportive of the bloc than the UK was in 2016 when 52 per cent opted to leave and 48 per cent preferred to remain.
An opinion poll conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung found 87 per cent of respondents said they backed Germany’s continued membership and only 10 per cent were against.
Even AFD voters fell short of supporting withdrawal from the bloc, with 52 per cent backing Brussels and 42 per cent voicing opposition to membership.