Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), has drawn criticism from Romanian politicians over remarks targeting migrants in Germany. Romania’s former Liberal (PNL) prime minister Ilie Bolojan and Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dominic Fritz condemned the comments, with Fritz calling on her to apologize.
“Child benefits, basic income support, medical care: More and more migrants from Romania are plundering our welfare system,” Weidel wrote on X.
She claimed that related spending in Magdeburg had increased twentyfold to EUR 3 million per year and said only the AfD could reverse Germany’s migration policies.
With her message, Weidel shared the Welt report on a documentary examining the effects of freedom of movement within the European Union on German cities, residents, and migrants. The documentary’s author visited disadvantaged neighborhoods in several German cities, as well as rural Romanian communities from which some migrants originate.
Ilie Bolojan, a former prime minister and leader of Romania’s Liberal Party (PNL), reacted on social media, describing Alice Weidel’s statement as “unacceptable.”
“The hundreds of thousands of Romanians living in Germany deserve respect. They work, pay taxes, raise their families, and contribute to the economy of the country in which they live,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Possible violations of the law must be handled individually, and no generalization based on nationality can justify discrimination.”
In his turn, Dominic Fritz, a German-born former mayor of Timișoara who also leads Romania’s opposition Save Romania Union, responded to Alice Weidel in a German-language video.
“I am German, I emigrated to Romania seven years ago, so I am, in a manner of speaking, a Romanian with a migrant background, and the people of Timișoara elected me their mayor twice,” Fritz said, as reported by Hotnews.ro.
He argued that hundreds of thousands of Romanians working in Germany contribute to the country’s social security system through their taxes and highlighted the role of Romanian medical and care workers.
“Thousands of Romanian doctors work hard in German hospitals, and who do you think paid for their training? Exactly – the Romanian taxpayer,” he stated.
Regarding Magdeburg, Dominic Fritz said welfare payments to Romanian citizens had increased because their number in the city had also risen twentyfold, adding that the large majority were employed.
“Is there abuse? Of course, just as there is abuse in every welfare system, and we can always discuss the loopholes that need to be closed,” he said. “But what you want is to benefit from the advantages that freedom of movement within the EU brings Germany without paying the price of solidarity.”
Fritz also criticized Romanian nationalist party AUR for not responding to Alice Weidel’s comments.
“They insult Romanians in the diaspora, and you remain silent,” he said. “I will not remain silent, because my love for Romania and Europe is genuine.”
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According to Mediafax, AUR lawmaker Andrei Gușă also criticized the comments made by AfD leader Alice Weidel. He said German authorities had the right to set their own migration and social protection policies but described the generalization that Romanians were exploiting the country’s welfare system as unacceptable.
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