Alice Weidel Brings Alternative for Germany’s Plan to Shrink the EU Straight to Strasbourg

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), is preparing to present her party’s blueprint for scaling back the European Union. In a twist of institutional hospitality, she will deliver the pitch from inside the European Parliament itself.

While the full details of the policy platform remain under wraps ahead of the formal unveiling, the core premise focuses on paring back the powers and administrative reach of the EU. National party leaders frequently visit Brussels and Strasbourg to address their affiliated European parliamentary groups or stage press briefings, but choosing the EU’s directly elected assembly as the backdrop to argue for a dramatically diminished Union offers a distinct visual contrast.

For voters across Europe, the debate over how much power Brussels should exercise touches almost every area of public life, from climate rules and agricultural subsidies to border management and state aid. Outlining a strategy to downsize that footprint speaks directly to a growing contest across the continent between proponents of deeper European integration and national-sovereigntist forces advocating for power to return to national capitals.

Yet proposing to shrink the Union is considerably simpler than navigating the procedural labyrinth required to do so. In EU parlance, reducing the powers of the institutions or unwinding competences—the legal authority granted to Brussels to act on specific topics—requires revising the European treaties. In practice, that demands an intergovernmental conference and the unanimous agreement of all 27 member states, followed by national ratifications or referendums. Even modest institutional adjustments routinely consume years of diplomatic wrangling, meaning sweeping retrenchments face enormous structural hurdles.

There is an enduring irony in national politicians utilising the Parliament’s facilities to argue that the machinery surrounding them should do considerably less. The Parliament’s media rooms frequently serve as launching pads for rhetoric that would curtail the assembly’s own mandate, illustrating how accessible EU infrastructure remains even to those who question its current scope.

Behind the microphones, the announcement also reflects ongoing manoeuvring among Europe's hard-right and sovereignist delegations. The AfD currently operates within the newly formed Europe of Sovereign Nations group in the Parliament, having sought new working alliances after falling out with other nationalist factions earlier in 2024. Presenting an ambitious European agenda allows party headquarters to set its own ideological marker on the continental stage, demonstrating that its European lawmakers intend to contest the federalist direction of travel head-on.

Weidel will formally introduce the policy document to assembled journalists and colleagues at the European Parliament. Observers and rival political groups will scrutinise the text to see whether it proposes specific legal mechanisms—such as repatriating treaty competences or slashing administrative budgets—or remains a broad political manifesto ahead of upcoming domestic and European political battles.