An article based on a documentary featured in a conservative daily newspaper sparked another instance of hate speech from the German right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany (AfD). In a post on her X account, Alice Weidel, the party’s co-chairwoman, launched a direct attack on Romanian migrants, who are EU citizens, accusing them of exploiting the German social system.
Under EU law, Romanian and Bulgarian citizens can live and work in Germany without a visa or work permit. They can take any job, and even minimal employment qualifies them for EU worker status, which provides access to income support and child benefits.
The documentary, titled “EU Poverty Migration: Welfare State in a Dead End?”, seeks to highlight how European social law regulations can be manipulated. The narrative fits well with the AfD’s anti-migration stance. A reporter returns to Romanian villages where immigrants came from eight years earlier and is taken aback by the new houses and luxury cars. She then visits impoverished neighbourhoods in German cities like Magdeburg, Halle, and Hagen, where she discovers poverty and a degraded quality of life. The documentary examines how free movement within the EU affects cities, residents, and immigrants.
Alice Weidel, who openly supports Russia and advocates for the dismantling of the EU, directly targeted Romanian migrants, accusing them of “robbing our social system.” She wrote on X, “Child benefits, basic income support, medical care: More and more migrants from Romania are plundering our social system. In Magdeburg alone, expenditures have increased twentyfold to 3 million euros per year. Only with the AfD will there be a migration turnaround!”
The extremist AfD promotes stringent anti-immigration policies and spreads hate-filled rhetoric. Recently, Weidel has explained the AfD’s strategy to lead Germany out of Europe, and she is also the party’s candidate for federal chancellor.
The Romanian community in Germany is estimated to number around 900,000 people, with most employed in industry, agriculture, and the service sector. According to the report, locals in Magdeburg have complained about noise, litter, and violent incidents, saying language barriers and insufficient responses from authorities complicate efforts to resolve these issues.
Several Romanian politicians have responded to Weidel’s stigmatisation of migrants from Romania for “taking advantage” of Germany’s social protection system. Dominic Fritz, leader of the liberal Save Romania Union (USR), stated that “the AfD president has woken up accusing Romanians of ‘robbing the German social system’.” He emphasised, “There are hundreds of thousands of Romanians in Germany who work honestly and actively contribute to Germany’s social security fund.“ He also referenced the extremist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and its “patriotic friends in Germany.”
