Germany's AfD Unveils Papers Seeking Cooperation With Trump and an End to Military Aid for Ukraine

Foreign policy representatives of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party presented two position papers in Berlin on Monday calling for closer cooperation with the Trump administration, an end to military aid for Ukraine and a rapprochement with Russia, the German newspaper Welt reported.

The papers were unveiled by Markus Frohnmaier, the AfD parliamentary group's foreign affairs spokesperson and deputy leader, fellow deputy leader Stefan Keuter, and Gerold Otten, deputy head of the group's foreign affairs working group.

In the paper on transatlantic relations, the AfD politicians note that the United States and Europe are inextricably linked by a shared culture and history. They point to the millions of descendants of German immigrants living in the United States, adding that figures such as Donald Trump embody this German heritage.

The party's foreign policy experts say they are seeking mutually beneficial, pragmatic transatlantic cooperation and welcome certain aspects of the Trump administration's shift in foreign policy. They also voice support for a possible reduction in the number of US troops stationed in Germany and for plans not to deploy US missiles on German soil.

In a second paper devoted to German-Russian relations, the AfD reiterates its calls to restart the Nord Stream gas pipeline, lift economic sanctions against Russia and end military aid to Ukraine.

Notably, the document does not repeat the condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that the AfD parliamentary group issued after the full-scale war began in 2022. Instead, the party's foreign policy representatives describe the war in Ukraine as a tragedy that should end as soon as possible, and call for a peace settlement that takes into account the security interests of all parties to the conflict.

The paper argues that Ukraine should be neither a NATO nor an EU member and should become a neutral state again. Russia, the politicians say, must recognise Ukraine's sovereignty. At the same time, they state that it is unrealistic for Ukraine to regain all of its territory, including Crimea. They propose that Ukraine's existence as a state, and the territory it retains after a ceasefire or peace agreement, be secured by guarantor countries, preferably ones not involved in the current war.

The presentation comes at a sensitive moment for the party. A recent poll shows that a majority of Germans consider the AfD a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, an AfD lawmaker has been elected as the president of a state parliament for the first time in Germany's history.