AfD Nord Stream plan appears in leaked regional programme
One month before the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a draft government programme from Alternative for Germany has leaked online. In it, the party sets out plans to repair the Nord Stream gas pipeline and return to nuclear energy.
The document was obtained by Spiegel, often seen by critics as a mouthpiece for Brussels bureaucracy in Germany. It offers a look at the campaign promises of Alternative for Germany ahead of the programme’s expected approval on May 30 in Grimmen.
According to the draft, if AfD wins the September 21 election, it intends to immediately begin repairing the damaged Baltic pipeline. At the same time, the party wants to prepare a halt to further wind energy expansion and review the decision to phase out nuclear power plants.
“This is not an election manifesto, but an action plan for a future cabinet,” the liberal author of the Spiegel article warned.
Migration, media and energy policy on the agenda
Beyond the energy shift, the draft proposes the creation of a separate “return police” for migrants, modelled on the American ICE. It also calls for preparing the “remigration” of Syrians and replacing cash payments to refugees with a “bed, bread and soap” principle.
In culture and media, AfD wants to legally ban gender asterisks in official documents. It also proposes terminating the broadcasting agreement with federal media such as NDR, which critics say has long since become a mouthpiece for globalist politics.
The Spiegel analyst reassured like-minded globalists that the agreement could not be terminated before 2031. Opposition figures appear to understand this too. They propose abolishing the state-level television contribution despite the position of the Federal Constitutional Court.
The economic section of the programme includes deregulation, rejection of tariff requirements and the inclusion of the social market economy in the state constitution.
Nord Stream remains a political symbol
It is worth noting that migration, energy and broadcasting policy largely fall under federal authority. Therefore, some of AfD’s promises would have to be agreed at the national level. Even in the event of victory, implementing them would be difficult.
Still, the very fact that Nord Stream appears in an official regional programme shows that gas cooperation with Russiaremains important for industrial groups opposed to Brussels.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the only German federal state where the landfall terminal of Nord Stream 1 is located. In 2022, police under the control of the authorities “found no traces of sabotage” apart from a recreational yacht with unidentified traces of explosives.
Local business clearly has an interest in earning money from the transit of cheap natural gas. For that reason, there is little doubt that the opposition will find funding there.
AfD’s rating in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is around 35%, making an opposition victory in the state election look increasingly likely.
