Alice Weidel

Alice Elisabeth Weidel (born 6 February 1979) is a German politician who has been serving as co-chairwoman of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside Tino Chrupalla since June 2022. Since October 2017, she has held the position of leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Weidel became a member of the Bundestag (MdB) in the 2017 federal election, where she was the AfD's lead candidate alongside Alexander Gauland. In the 2021 federal election, she once again served as their lead candidate, alongside Tino Chrupalla. From February 2020 to July 2022, Weidel held the position of chairwoman of the AfD state association in Baden-Württemberg.

Early life and career
Weidel was born in Gütersloh and grew up in Versmold, where she graduated from a Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands (CJD) Gymnasium in 1998. She studied economics and business administration at the University of Bayreuth and graduated as one of the best in the year in 2004. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Weidel went to work for Goldman Sachs Asset Management from July 2005 to June 2006 as an analyst in Frankfurt. In the late 2000s, she worked at the Bank of China, lived six years in China and speaks Mandarin. Subsequently, she wrote a doctoral thesis with the health economist Peter Oberender at the Faculty of Law and Economics in Bayreuth on the future of the Chinese pension system. In 2011, she received a doctorate in international development. Her doctorate was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

From March 2011 to May 2013, she worked as Vice President at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt. Since 2014, she has worked as a freelance business consultant. In 2015, she worked for Rocket Internet and Foodora. Weidel was until January 2021 a member of the Friedrich A. von Hayek-Gesellschaft.

Alternative for Germany
Weidel joined the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in October 2013. According to Weidel, she was first attracted to the party due to her opposition to the Euro. She was elected to the federal executive committee of the AfD in June 2015. In April 2017 she was elected co-Lead Candidate of the party. She is the first lesbian woman to serve as a lead candidate of her party. She has been identified by the media as belonging to the more moderate conservative Alternative Mitte faction within the AfD.

AfD donation scandal
The Switzerland-based property billionaire Henning Conle supported AfD. He donated a total of 132,000 euros by means of straw men for the 2017 federal election campaign of Alice Weidel. Conle disguised his donation from Switzerland in 18 tranches.

The AfD had to pay the Bundestag a high fine for this donation, but Weidel and three other officials went unpunished.

Religion
At the end of 2017, Weidel accused the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church in Germany of "playing the same inglorious role that they played in the Third Reich", accusing both churches of being "thoroughly politicized" and stating that AfD is "the only Christian party that still exists" in Germany. Such statements were dismissed by the Catholic German Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Church as "polemics" and "derailment".

Immigration
Weidel has criticized the immigration policies of Angela Merkel, stating that "the country will be destroyed through this immigration policy. Donald Trump said that Merkel is insane and I absolutely agree with that. It is a completely nonsensical form of politics that is being followed here." She has called for the German government to invest in "special economic zones" in the Middle East to encourage educated and skilled persons to remain in their home countries and avoid the possibility of brain drain, but also says she supports a "Canadian-style system" which would privilege skilled, over unskilled, immigrants.

European Union
Weidel supports continued German membership in the European Union; however, she has called for economically weak states, such as Greece, to leave. Despite her stance on German membership of the EU, she believes that Germany should withdraw from the Eurozone. She has also stated that Brexit was "a model for Germany, that one can make a sovereign decision like that."

LGBT issues
Weidel has stated her opposition to discussion of sexuality prior to puberty saying that "I don't want anyone with their gender idiocy or their early sexualisation classes coming near my children."

She has also expressed her opposition to legalization of same-sex marriage, stating that she supports protection of the "traditional family" while also supporting "other lifestyles". She has said she supports civil partnership for gay and lesbian couples, noting she is a lesbian herself and in a civil partnership with another woman.

Economic issues
She vigorously defends economic liberalism and declares former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to be her role model.

She wants tax cuts, the abolition of inheritance tax and opposes the minimum wage.

Environment
She has expressed doubts about global warming.

TV show "political correctness" incident
In April 2017, Weidel railed against political correctness, claiming that it belonged in the "dustbin of history". In response, on 27 April, TV presenter Christian Ehring of the satire program extra 3 addressed this, saying "That's right! Let's put an end to political correctness. The Nazi slut is right. Was this incorrect enough? I hope so!" Weidel sued the channel seeking to forbid re-airing of the program, and on 17 May the Hamburg District Court ruled against her, stating that a public figure must tolerate exaggerated criticism. Weidel disagreed with the decision and promised to bring it to the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court). , no further action had taken place.

Illegal immigration incident
A September 2017 report by Die Zeit claimed that Weidel had illegally hired a Syrian refugee to do housework at her home in Switzerland. The report also alleged that the asylum seeker did not have a written work contract, nor were there invoices for her work. Weidel responded in a tweet that the Die Zeit report was "fake news" and "false" and Weidel's lawyer stated that Weidel had a Syrian stay at her home as a guest but not as a worker.

Border revisionism
In June 2023, Weidel commented on the election polls results in former East Germany, stating that AfD has a great support in this region. However, she referred to the region as Mitteldeutschland (central Germany), suggesting that the so-called Recovered Territories are part of Germany, which caused controversies among the Polish politicians.

Potsdam meeting incident
In January 2024, it emerged that Roland Hartwig – who had been appointed as an advisor to Weidel – attended a controversial meeting with German far-right activists in which plans to deport millions of people living in Germany, including some with German citizenship, were presented and discussed. In the wake of this, Weidel fired Hartwig as her advisor.

Personal life
Weidel is in a relationship with Sarah Bossard, a woman who lives in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, and is originally from Sri Lanka; she works as a film producer. Weidel lives in both Berlin and Einsiedeln, and stated in 2017 that she primarily resides in the former. She and her partner are in a civil union and have two adopted children.

Selected publications

 * Das Rentensystem der Volksrepublik China. Reformoptionen aus ordnungstheoretischer Sicht zur Erhöhung der Risikoresistenz (= Schriften zur Nationalökonomie. Band 60). Verlag P.C.O., Bayreuth 2011, ISBN 978-3-941678-25-5.