Joachim Paul, April 14, 2021, Broadcasting Reform

AfD Kompakt, April 14, 2021

I am very happy that the majority of the delegates have followed our motion and that the demand for a slimmed down home broadcasting, the “Grundfunk”, is now a part of our Bundestag election program. It is high time for a durable structural reform of public broadcasting [Öffentilich-Rechtlichen]. The introduction of a Grundfunk would mean not only the complete withdrawal from the forced contributions but, by means of sharpening the programs, would make ARD, ZDF Co. into a show window of the regions – more documentation, education and culture – more Heimat. Concretely, that means: There will be maintained or constructed regional studios in which the broadcasters [Sender] will no longer take part in the bidding competition for expensive sports rights.

The Grundfunk would much better expand the media landscape because it would concentrate on what the profit-oriented private firms cannot or will not carry. For that, many billions would no longer be required in the future. The AfD wants to cut the volume of financing by up to 90%. According to the Grundfunk model, the financing shall proceed from a levy which large media concerns offering audio-visual media have to pay. It is then possible for them to offer Grundfunk format on their platforms after a first showing. According to our concepts, the control of the broadcaster will be exercised by means of an elected viewer parliament and an independent experts council.  

The AfD is the only party which for years is consistently committed to a structural reform of public broadcasting and one which itself has developed a logical reform model which stands on a sensible basic service – and at the same time redeems the promises of a complete abolition of the broadcasting contribution. The Grundfunk – I am sure – will surely be spoken of in the course of the election campaign and decisively shape the debate over the future of the billions of public broadcasting in the digital age.

 

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

Alice Weidel, April 14, 2021, State Debt

AfD Kompakt, April 14, 2021

The debts carousel spins ever faster. The officially vouched German state debt swells to 2.7 trillion euros; the sustainability deficit, comprised of the implicit state debt of politically engaged and uncovered payments obligations, amounts to five times as much. The continuation of the irresponsible lockdowns will widen this gap still further.

With the endless lockdown policy, the Federal government knowingly and willfully drives the German state finances to the wall. The agreement to the so-called Corona “reconstruction funds” has thrown open the door to boundless EU indebtedness at the cost of the German taxpayer. A bursting of the bubble due to an over-exertion of the German economy’s still high credit and capability threatens to collapse the euro’s house of cards.

The reckoning for this will presented to the Hauptbürgen [principal guarantors] of Germany. The way out lies not in a still more unlimited making of debts and the elimination of the debt brake, the last line of stability, but in the immediate ending of the lockdown spiral and in the withdrawal from the euro debts union.

 

[trans: tem]

Christine Anderson, April 8, 2021, Social Networks – International Control

AfD Kompakt, April 8, 2021

Even to consider controlling and guiding the social networks is a clear indication of a totalitarian disposition. That Heiko Maas has one such, he already showed as creator of the network enforcement act. He now seeks international collaboration with other governments.

The plan goes beyond a sheer censorship, which is already bad enough: Governments in the future shall help to form algorithms that will distinguish which entries by internet users will be displayed and which not. Naturally, this is directed primarily at disfavored opinions which displease the governing globalists. Already these days, objective facts will be quite subjectively evaluated as disinformation. Legitimate resistance [Berechtiger Widerstand] will be nipped in the bud, whether by means of censorship or state manipulation of algorithms on the internet, or by restrictive Corona measures which force the people into isolation, into the street.

The social networks, such as Facebook, should not play along with this game. With promises of the free exchange of opinion, they have brought themselves to a position of monopoly. They now appear, on the basis of their involvement with government policy, to subsequently change the conditions. This abuse of market power needs to be prevented. Anything other would not be compatible with the fundamentals of a free society.

 

[trans: tem]

Alexander Gauland, April 6, 2021, EU and Turkey

AfD Kompakt, April 6, 2021

The EU-Turkey agreement has failed. The EU has made itself liable to extortion and Erdogan makes maximum use of this circumstance. It is nonsense to negotiate with him for a prolongation or even a new edition of the agreement. The tribute payments to the Turkish ruler must be ended immediately.

While it pays court to Erdogan, the EU leaves its member state Greece alone to defend the external borders. That too must have an end.

The money, principally from the purse of the German taxpayer, which the EU remits to Ankara would be essentially better invested in an effective construction of an EU-wide border defense.

If the EU here continues to not meet its responsibility and, in exchange for money, prefers to shove this onto Turkey, it obviously loses in this area also its justification.

 

[trans: tem]

 

Joachim Paul, April 6, 2021, Gaia-X Cloud Service

AfD Kompakt, April 6, 2021

The tug-of-war over “Gaia-X” strikingly recalls that over “De-Mail”, which indeed was celebrated as a breakthrough yet could never make it to market. Meanwhile, 212 IT firms and research facilities – among which in part are questionable businesses like the Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Huawei, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and, due to closer ties to the U.S. military, the criticized firm Palantir – belong to the so-called European cloud alliance.

Why any firm, from which by the creation of the “Gaia-X” cloud it was actually desired to be independent, is now prominently included in the development process is not disclosed to me. Obviously, the sense of the required technological sovereignty of Europe – to which the “Gaia-X” cloud should essentially contribute – is ever still too little defined. It must be carefully examined whether it corresponds to the interests of Europe and Germany when these businesses receive promotion funds and access to relevant information from the development process. In doubt, the answer must be “Nein”.

 

[trans: tem]