Party juniors: AfD leadership for separation from “Junger Alternative”

The AfD leadership is pushing ahead with plans to separate from the AfD youth organization JA (“Young Alternative”) and to found a new organization. The federal executive board spoke out in favor of a corresponding change to the AfD statutes, as party circles confirmed to the German Press Agency. The editorial network Germany (RND) had previously reported.

The AfD has long been considering establishing a new organization based on the model of the Young Socialists (“Jusos”) within the SPD. It’s no secret that there is dissatisfaction with the JA among the AfD leadership. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified it as a confirmed right-wing extremist effort. “They could do whatever they wanted,” a high-ranking party member told the dpa. However, it is not about a resolution. The AfD could not decide on this, it was said.

YES currently relatively independent

Because the JA is relatively independent. Currently, members – apart from the board members – do not have to be in the AfD at the same time. The “Juso” model that is being discussed would, as JA boss Hannes Gnauck explained a few months ago, mean that every AfD member under the age of 36 would automatically also be a member of the youth organization. The stronger connection would enable more action from above, for example in regulatory measures such as party exclusion procedures.

Separation from JA would require a two-thirds majority at the party conference

But the Federal Executive Board’s decision is not enough. Since the JA is, according to the AfD statutes, “the official youth organization of the Alternative for Germany,” a change to the statutes would be required to separate from the JA and integrate a new organization into the AfD. This would have to be decided at a party conference with a two-thirds majority.