Rise of the Eurosceptics in Germany; One in Four Would Vote for Anti-Euro Party

With the EU scrambling to contain anti-euro sentiment in Italy, there has been a notable rise of euroscepticism in other places, even Germany. Reuters reports One in four Germans would back anti-euro party.

One in four Germans would be ready to vote in September's federal election for a party that wants to quit the euro, according to an opinion poll published on Monday that highlights German unease over the costs of the euro zone crisis.

The poll conducted by TNS-Emnid for the weekly Focus magazine showed 26 percent of Germans would consider backing a party that wanted to take Germany out of the euro and as many as four in 10 Germans in the 40-49 age bracket would do so.

"This suggests there may be potential here for a new protest party," Emnid chief Klaus Peter Schoeppner told Focus.

A new eurosceptic movement called 'Alternative for Germany' (AfD) comprising mostly academics and business people is due to hold its first meeting later on Monday in a northern suburb of Frankfurt.

One of its founders, economics professor Bernd Lucke, told Focus he had no concern that it would be able to raise the required 2,000 signatures in each German region to take part in September's federal election.

AfD's website www.alternativefuer.de has been live since late last week and its Twitter account (@wahlalternativ1) counts 690 followers.

"Let's put an end to this euro!" is the message on the front page of its website.

690 followers is certainly not a lot of followers. This leads me to believe most Germans do not even know about the party. Certainly German mainstream media would like to keep it that way.

If that poll is accurate however, and I suspect it is, there is plenty of time for AfD to spread like wildfire, just as happened in Italy.

In case you missed it, anti-euro sentiment in also on the rise in the Netherlands. Please see Not Enough Fingers to Contain the Leak in the Dike.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com