"Krone" Editorial

Half-sister Alice Weidel

Analyzed for the “Krone”: Andreas Mölzer(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

It’s quite a twist: Alice Weidel leads Germany’s strongest party—at least according to the polls—the AfD. In her private life, she is in a lesbian relationship in Switzerland. And in Austria’s capital, she recently sat down with German public broadcaster ARD for a summer interview. The reason for her visit to Vienna: to learn from the Freedom Party.

ON THE ONE HAND, one might find it encouraging that, for once, it isn’t the “Piefkes” showing the “Ösis” how it’s done, but rather the other way around—seeking advice in little Austria.

ON THE OTHER HAND, this could also be a double-edged sword for the FPÖ, which is striving with some determination to assume governmental responsibility. After all, referring to the AfD as a “sister party” implies, in the common understanding, a broad alignment of political goals. And in her interview in Vienna, Weidel—by calling for withdrawal from both the eurozone and the Schengen Area—effectively raised the prospect of “Dexit”—and with it, likely the de facto end of European integration. And that is precisely what the FPÖ has never sought, either in its platform or in its actual policies.

Now, the closeness between the FPÖ and the AfD on many key issues—such as migration policy and criticism of the “woke” zeitgeist—is beyond question. In some other areas, however, the AfD is, at most, the political stepsister of the Freedom Party.