Alternative Für Deutschland and Pegida. An Ambiguous Relationship?

The German party Alternative Für Deutschland (AFD) –Alternative for Germany –represents a new phenomenon in the stable, yet still developing German party system. The party, founded in 2013 as a collector of anti-European sentiments, nearly met the 5% representation threshold in the general elections (4,7% obtained). The AFD is currently not represented in the Bundestag, but after getting 7,2 % of votes in the 2014 European elections, it is now represented in the European Parliament by 7 members. After only a few months of its founding, the party organization and leadership were shaken by profound changes that resulted in the substitution of the former economic conservative leader Bernd Lucke with the new right-conservative leader Frauke Petry. In the new course of the party, anti-immigration issues are combined with a more general rightist Euroscepticism. From this point of view, the once suggested connections with the radical right have now become a constant accusation from different political opponents and information sources. In particular, the relationship with the Pegida movement (Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes) -Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident- is increasingly becoming investigated by the public opinion and by academic researchers. Although no empirical correlation can be established between the founding of the party and Pegida mobilization, this paper analyses whether the issues currently represented by the party are being influenced by the Pegida rhetoric and vice-versa. Through an analysis of the public discourse of these actors and the positions of the Mps of AFD in the European Parliament, this paper will investigate and explain the relationship between the new political party and the Pegida Movement in terms of political culture, organization and issues selection.