Cutting Ties With the West: Is Europe Ready For a Fresh Alternative?

German politician Markus Frohnmaier believes that Europe needs a policy focused on having good relations with Russia, German newspaper Die Zeit wrote.

Frohnmaier, 24, is a student at a law school, and since May 2015 has been the leader of the youth wing of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) conservative party, the newspaper wrote.

Despite criticism Frohnmaier and his supporters have faced in German media, their proposals could be viewed as an alternative not only for Germany but for Europe as a whole.

He also advocates for a European policy which would be independent of US influence. His movement proposes to abandon the project of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and replace it with a free-trade agreement with Russia.

The party has also stressed the need to lift anti-Russian sanctions to boost Berlin-Moscow economic cooperation.

Frohnmaier has also opposed the open-door migration policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to him, the policy has proved ineffective and the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe has demonstrated the flaws of multiculturalism.

Amid the ongoing migrant crisis in Germany, Merkel continues to lose voters to right-wing parties.

Germany should turn away from the "US warmongering policy" and focus on cooperation with Eastern European countries and especially with Russia.

Recently, the AfD came third in municipal elections in the German central state of Hesse, on March 6. The vote took place a week ahead of elections to the state legislatures of Baden-Wurttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. Frohnmaier is running as a candidate in Baden-Wurttemberg.