The Alternative for Germany makes the German elections interesting

There is one reason why this weekend's German elections are of interest - to see, whether the  stunning success (so far) of the euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) will be enough for the party to reach the Bundestag.

Professor Bernd Lucke's AfD has within a few weeks witnessed a faster growth than anybody had foreseen, according to the conservative daily Die Welt. Polls show that the euro crisis has created a diffuse fear for the future, which the traditional parties are not able to handle.

Not surprisingly, Lucke also has many sympathizers also in the UK:

When Bernd Lucke, the head of the euroskeptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD), visited the United Kingdom before the summer break, he was courted as an honored guest. Lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party met with him in private. The country's main news show, BBC's "Newsnight," brought him in for a prime-time studio interview. Instead of being berated as a right-wing populist, he was praised for his intelligence. --

In June, when Lucke was sitting in front of the black-red-gold flag in the "Newsnight" studio, moderator Jeremy Paxman described him as a taboo-breaker. There is a new party in Germany that is "ready to say what has been unsayable," said Paxman. Namely, that "the euro is nuts." Lucke laughed politely and answered the sympathetic questions in fluent English.--

 

"He is an extremely impressive figure", says Douglas Carswell, one of the leading euroskeptics of the Conservative Party. "He's very highly thought of by conservatives."