AfD gains and Mélenchon warning expose rift over Germany’s military role
Projections that the far‑right AfD could win a regional majority in eastern Germany, and Jean‑Luc Mélenchon’s attack on Berlin’s plan for a major conventional army, highlight growing disagreement over how powerful Germany’s forces should become.
Political shifts in Germany and France are converging on the same fault line: how far Europe should go in expanding German military power.
In Germany, projections in the eastern state of Saxony‑Anhalt show the far‑right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on the brink of winning a regional majority. The party has been described as pro‑Russia and critical of current policies toward Moscow and the war in Ukraine.
In France, presidential candidate Jean‑Luc Mélenchon has seized on AfD’s result in Saxony‑Anhalt to attack both centrist European policies and Germany’s military plans. He called the far right’s return in Germany a catastrophic demonstration of the blindness of centrist policies, arguing that this disaster is their result.
Against that backdrop, Mélenchon said that under these conditions Germany’s military project to create Europe’s first conventional army is unacceptable for France. His comments underline French concern about the scale and direction of German rearmament.
At the same time, AfD leaders are setting out their own foreign‑policy stance. Party co‑leader Alice Weidel has said the party wants good relations with neighbors, with the United States, and also with Russia, arguing that politics works through finding a balance. She has also stressed the need for open diplomatic channels with Russia when discussing Ukraine and for good relations with major partners.
Together, these positions show how plans for a stronger German military face pressure from different sides: from a German party that favors a different approach to Russia and Ukraine, and from a leading French politician who rejects a large German‑led conventional force.
What will shape the next phase is whether AfD converts projected regional gains into broader influence over German policy, how Berlin proceeds with its military projects, and how French and other European leaders respond to the idea of Germany building what Mélenchon calls Europe’s first conventional army.
Sources
- OSINT