AfD logoThe beginnings of the AfD date back to the Maastricht Agreement (1992) which established the single European currency, the Euro. Its introduction in Germany appealed in the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Constitutional Tribunal) in October 1993 a group of Euro opponents – unsuccessfully. After this defeat, they decided to give a political framework to their opposition and set up the BFB organization – "Bund Freier Bürger" (Union of Free Citizens)
Not much has been done, but on March 25, 2010, they had a large opportunity: Angela Merkel in her speech in the Bundestag refused financial support from the crisis of Greece, so that, on the same day, at the EU summit, she would change her head completely, proving that there is no alternate to the request to support the Greeks. BFB activists stated that yes there is an alternate – electoral – you do not gotta vote for Merkel's chadeks.
This date, March 25, 2010, is considered an AfD birth impulse. A key function was played by the Hamburg economist, prof. Bernd Lucke; in the autumn of that year he created the “Plenum of Economists” announcing Eurosceptic appeals. They began to be read more carefully erstwhile in 2011 the government created the stableness Fund (ESM) for the rescue of the Euro, which was besides criticized by the then ruling politicians of CDU/CSU and FDP parties. The following year, a cross-party “Free Citizens Soyusz” was established against the ESM, where later AfD leaders were active. Next to Lucke, mentioned earlier, it was Hans-Olaf Henkel, chief of the union of German industrialists, chapeone Beatrix von Storch; influential writer Konrad Adam, lawyer Alexander Gauland. The group formed the "Electoral alternate 2013", but in this expression they failed to accomplish any success in the upcoming Bundestag elections.
After this defeat, Lucke, Adam and Gauland decided to go further separately and set up their own AfD party, “Alternative for Germany”. At the founding convention in April 2013, Bernd Lucke, Konrad Adam und Frauke Petra (chemist and entrepreneur from Dresden) became equal advocates of the fresh party. They addressed their message mainly to tiny entrepreneurs. They built structures very rapidly in the 16 Lands and as early as mid-year AfD had about 10,000 members. Many of them previously belonged to another parties; e.g. Lucke and Gauland to the CDU, and Henkel to the FDP.
AfD inactive lacked any votes to enter the Land Parliament of Hesse, but the European elections in May 2014 were already a large success – 7.1% of the votes and 7 Euro-Parliamentarians. The local elections held at the same time brought AfD many seats in municipal and municipal councils. In all elections in 2013 and 2014, AfD went under the slogans of the liquidation of the single currency (Euro), a heavy liberal economical program, a conservative household model and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
These were the beginnings and the first years of the "Alternative for Germany"; as you can see, the parties were then not very different from the another German political formations. besides its leaders mostly derived from these old incumbent parties. Then there was a sharp right turn, as in the next text.
