Merkel’s coalition attacks anti-euro party

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition has adopted a new approach in the run-up to the Sunday general elections, attacking a rapidly rising anti-euro party.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) had been intentionally disregarding Alternative fuer Deutschland (AFD), but Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has now started a campaign against the new party.

“These people claim ‘We’d be better off economically without the euro,’” the minister told the weekly Die Zeit. “That claim is totally wrong, has no credibility and is extremely dangerous for our prosperity.”

The new strategy comes as political experts say the AFD is attracting support from the traditional voter base of Merkel’s coalition.

AFD supporters consist mainly of middle-class voters, academics and business figures, who don’t want the euro as their country’s currency and to seek to reintroduce the Deutschmark, which was the official currency of Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002.

Germany is set to hold federal elections on September 22 to determine some 598 members of the 18th Bundestag, the country’s main federal legislative house.