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By: Lisa Mayerhofer
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View of the party logo at an AfD federal party conference.
Leading economists warn against the plans of the right-wing populists.
© Carsten Koall/dpa/Symbolbild
Leading economists oppose the AfD's plans.
Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank, warns of Germany's economic decline due to right-wing populists.
Frankfurt/Main – The plans of the right-wing populist AfD and their shockingly high poll numbers of over 20 percent have alarmed German economists.
“Right-wing populists and extremists not only divide society, their concepts also lead directly to economic decline,” said Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank, according to
Handelsblatt
at the institute’s capital reception in Berlin on Monday.
Head of Deutsche Bank: AfD plans lead to economic decline
The AfD is against immigration, even though Germany lacks skilled workers, said Sewing.
They are fighting Europe, even though European integration is the only way to preserve prosperity.
And she advocates economic isolation, even though Germany's economic success is based on globalization.
In an interview with
Welt am Sonntag,
the head of Deutsche Bank also warned of the effect on foreign investors: “Foreign investors are also involved in Germany because of its reliable democratic values and structures.
They are already asking whether they can rely on them in the long term.” Germany will only get the shortage of skilled workers under control “if we represent an attractive destination for qualified employees from abroad”.
Sparkasse President: “Anyone who thinks something like that is sinning against the future of our country”
Sparkasse President Ulrich Reuter is also worried about the AfD's plans - especially the reports that some right-wing populists want to expel or deport people with a migrant background.
Anyone who questions the values of the Basic Law or acts against it not only endangers the free-democratic basic order, warned Reuter, according to
Handelsblatt
.
That would also deprive Germany of its prosperity.
“Because we are economically dependent on international cooperation, including targeted immigration.”
“Top foreign researchers, foreign skilled workers or nursing staff from abroad do not come to Germany if they have to fear rejection or even deportation here in the future,” said Reuter, according to the magazine.
“Anyone who thinks, says or even wants to implement something like that is not just acting inhumanely.
He is also sinning against the future of our country.”
AfD's economic plans: Economists warn against isolation
Sewing and Reuter are not alone in their criticism: several German economists dissected
the AfD's economic policy goals in
Spiegel over the weekend.
“The central problem is that the AfD relies on isolation and self-sufficiency, which destroys German competitive advantages,” said Clemens Fuest, head of the Munich Ifo Institute.
This is “in diametric contradiction to Germany’s deep integration into the global economy.”
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The Leibniz Center for European Economic Research pointed out that, according to its calculations, higher earners and not lower-income people would benefit if the party's demands for the last federal election were implemented.
With material from dpa