Im stephen sackur. This is munich, a city emblematic of germanys prosperity and small c conservatism. Right now, german politics looks anything but steady, sta ble politics looks anything but steady, stable and predictable. Angela merkels new grand coalition with the social democrats is very fragile. The biggest Opposition Party is the far right alternative for deutschland. My guest today is the influential afd mp, peter baranka. How will his party try to exploit the weakness of Angela Merkel . Welcome to hardtalk. Thank you for having me. Let us start with a big picture of german politics today. In some ways, nothing much has changed. Here we are again facing a grand Coalition Led by Angela Merkel with the christian democrats together. Actually, things quite different this time . We are not even there. We dont have that coalition yet. We will have that pretty soon. And having said that, i would agree that it is no longer at the same. We have a coalition of official losers. They have lost more than 15 from last autumn. In the meantime they have lost even more. They have lost more than 20 since 2013. It is of course a different situation, absolutely. What is your situation, absolutely. What is your situation in the afd . Are you going to be constructive . You now are in essence the biggest Opposition Party. We are. But fight is not an end in its own right, of course. We are not fighting just for the sake of fighting. We are fighting for bringing germany back on a legal track where laws are not violated all the time, especially when it comes to the euro rescue and the border controls and the immigration. We also trying to bring back more direct democracy where people have a say in the bundestag again, which they did not have for a long time. Your bedfellows in europe, i guess, are the National Front in france, the austrian freedom party, the party in the netherlands. Many people in your country and across this continent are extraordinarily worried about the power and influence you can now wields. Actually, we late comers in germany. It is very late that germany has ultimately come up with a central right new party sticking to the values and virtues that were normal in europe up until the 19905. Values and virtues that were normal in europe up untilthe 1990s. You are far right. I havejust in europe up untilthe 1990s. You are far right. I have just listed your bedfellows. They are all far right, many would say extremist parties. Would have to look into each and every one of them. It is com pletely each and every one of them. It is completely different to Marine Le Pen and from the austrian right. That is probably going to to find out. In what way are you com pletely out. In what way are you completely different . Out. In what way are you completely diffe re nt . |j out. In what way are you completely different . I have not changed my political opinion and 20, 30, 40 changed my political opinion and 20, 30, a0 years. I stick to a world where the nationstate was undisputedly the natural state of affairs, nobody disputed that. We have a programme, iwas affairs, nobody disputed that. We have a programme, i was a member of the programme commission, that the cdu have up until 2005, we are not extremists. That was normal at the time. We did not change, society has changed, especially the perception, the media perception. Im not talking that the media perception. Im talking about the perception of significant people. Let me quote you, the former president of the council of german jews. She describes your party, the afd, as a destructive power, which endangers democracy. I dont know which crystal ball she has, but she cannot see in the future. Crosstalk. You can always put individual was out of context. I do not see a programme as radical at all. Out of context. I do not see a programme as radical at allm out of context. I do not see a programme as radical at all. It is absolutely bourgeois. We need to chess children some of the things that make test you. I hope you put it into context. Now that the main biggest Opposition Party, the tone and style of the party is beginning to change. For example, let us take one of your senior figures. To change. For example, let us take one of your senior figures. He is a lwa ys one of your senior figures. He is always quoted, although he is not a seniorfigure. He is a senior figure. No, he is not. He is one of 16 regionalfigures. There figure. No, he is not. He is one of 16 regional figures. There you go. He is quoted all the time. Maybe you know what i am going to ask you. He described the Holocaust Memorial in berlin as a monument of shame. He suggested that germany should not have put it up and no other nation would have put it up. He put it like that. Well, it is a memorial of shame. It is one of the worst periods of german history. You know what he meant. He meant it was a shame it had been erected. What he meant. He meant it was a shame it had been erectedlj what he meant. He meant it was a shame it had been erected. I dont know what he meant. He said no other country would put up a memorial for the worst period of its history. I would not applet it that way. That is what he meant. The last one on this style. Now that you are the biggest Opposition Party, your language is going to change. As a party, iam language is going to change. As a party, i am going to quoted to you stefen brand. As an mp he is going to be chairman of the Judicial Committee. He referred to the green party as child molesters and coke heads. It has been suspended frequently from his Regional Parliament when he was serving there, because it is outrageous behaviour. Do you think it is wise to put him into a position such as Committee Chairman of the judicial Committee Chairman of the Judicial Committee was it was not my decision. It was the decision of the so called is elled the council of the bundestag. Elder council. Nobody is agreed, not even the greens and left themselves. It was only the election proper of that committee that it was disputed. It is the first time it has happened in 60 years in german history, the same to me. The no reason at all. We have seen to me. The no reason at all. We have seen nazis in the 19505. Nobody was ever disputed and some people who got a few calls in Regional Parliaments and even me, who did nothing at all basically, were disputed just because we were afd members. This is the treatment the afd is receiving all the time. Let me put it this way, do you acknowledge that the party is going to have to change and part of that change is going to be different style, tone and language and maybe some members of the party who were senior figures in the past will not be in the future . Yes, i will agree there. But that is normal with every party. We have to become more professional but ultimately you have to understand that the tone and the brutality is only a reaction from our side against the brutality of the ruling class. They break laws all the time, it is us who give people who are really furious about developments in europe and germany a voice. Sometimes, especially if you are not yet in a parliamentary position, which we had been up until well, 201a, you have to use a little stronger language, all opposition parties have done that in the past. Yes, but you cant excuse some of the things said by figures in your party. I dont want to excuse everything. Im i dont want to excuse everything. Alright well lets talk a little bit of substance. Lets talk about immigration and integration policy in germany today and let me quote you the words of a very seniorfigure in your party alexander gauland, who got into an argument very recently with the german commissioner for integration aydan ozoguz, who has turkish ethnic roots. Now, ms ozoguz, had said and this in a newspaper article that a specifically german culture beyond the language is not identifiable. To which mr gauland said, this is what a german turk says, lets invite her to eichsfeld and tell her specifically what german culture is and afterwards she will never come back and we will be able to dispose of her in anatolia. You would probably me as a german would have to explain what he means because i dont understand. In the translation i get the tone and sense of what he is trying to say. Is that acceptable . To dispose of her . I dont even know of the word eichsfeld, is it acceptable that ms ozoguz who you must be aware of that the integration of the government does not percieve or recognise any german culture. How can you integrate into something which does not exist . That is what she started out with and this is a perfect example that our reaction is just, i would say, adequate. She is from hamburg and fully german. Obviously she doesnt feel like hamburgian as a citizen of hamburg and germany, she has a right to an opinion, doesnt she . She is the integration minister, judge her on her time in office. Your leader is basically saying that they will dispose of her in anatolia. A senior figure from cdu said that this language. The german word does not mean to get rid of her somehow. Senior figures on the conservative right said that the language is disgusting and dehumanising. Why wont you say that too . I would say the policy of the Coalition Government including him, is disgustable and has been disgustable for decades now, so we are reacting and giving those who are disgusted of that policy. I want to talk about economics. Really . on the specifics of immigration policy, what we see today is that there is a significant number of people coming into germany on those immigration flows from the east. The numbers were extraordinary, we know that many more than 1 million came in that period after 2015, but in the last year the figures suggest 187,000 came in compared to 280,000 in 2016, far down from the peak in 2015. So it does appear that the policies adopted by ms merkels government in the last year or two have very much reduced the inflow, would you accept that . It is a relative comparison. Comparing it to the levels of 2015, which were suicidal to any society. We had abandoned our borders at the time, just imagine. I am asking you that now in the current situation, where the government has changed policy and the numbers are down, what would you do that is so very different from the Angela Merkel government today . If you dont interrupt me, i could finalise my sentence. She invited everybody in september 2nd, 2015 by basically officially saying we are abandoning our borders, our police, the head of the German Police wanted that order in writing. It was an executive order, no law was changed. But we officially abandoned our order and the word spread in africa and arabia within minutes. We would stop that, we would stop that invitation. It has stopped. No it has not stopped, absolutely, the official number that the government admits to is 220,000, not counting families of those refugees. We are talking about more than 500,000 people, Illegal Immigrants still. This is the current number. Whatever numbers you have there are not right and ms merkel has not stopped it. That is why her polls are falling dramatically. So what do you do . You end schengen for a start, the Free Movement on people within the eu and do you also put up walls . I am not clear what the afd would do. Its all about mass psychology. We would not have to do that. We would stop that invitation officially and seriously and bring back, even by force, a few of those Illegal Immigrants and even if you only dealt with a couple thousand seriously that word would also spread into africa and into arabia and that mass influx would stop immediately. To what extent is this about muslims in particular . I notice that you have a policy to ban foreign funding in mosques in germany, to ban the burqa, the full bodied veil. We are not the only ones, i guess. Ban the muslims call to prayer in germany, put all imams through very vigorous state vetting. Its fair to say that to many muslim germans, this feels like some sort of war on their religion . Well, you could argue who started that war as well . But yes, i would say, statistically, 85 of that immigration is muslims and it is mainly sunni muslims. So you could say it is also an islamic problem in our point of view. But it is not only that. Abandoning its borders would even be wrong if only scandinavians came and ended up into germany. It is always a case, always a problem. So, well, what you havejust elaborated or numbered is not totally true. We accept the legal right to private confession of religious freedom, if you want, article four of our constitution. We fully accept that, no one disputes that with the afd. The individual muslims have a right to pray in private and public, but no right to put sharia law ahead of secular law and that is what many muslims are unfortunately are doing, especially muslim groups. And that we do not accept. You have a background in economics and business. Are you comfortable that these days the afd seems to find its strongest support and, indeed, its main raison detre in anti immigration policies rather than the more technocratic anti eurozone stance that actually the party began with . Nobody can really say why people vote for us. At least 50 of the voters still vote for the anti euro reasons i stand for. That is what i find interesting, whether you are comfortable. Islam and especially the islam of the strong religious people, muslims, is antiliberal, it is against womens rights and human rights. It is a fight for freedom, actually. It does not contradict in any way our fight for freedom that we have against the euro rescue and against the eu in total. You cannot sort this around and say that this is a minor group of our electorate and, well. Whatever you call them, nationalists or chauvinists or patriots are the majority of our voters. You now have an important position in the german parliament. You chair the committee on the budget. That gives you real power and influence. How will you use it . It is a moderator s role, a symbolic role if you will, to head a committee where i only represent a minority. I will be over voted frequently in almost all budget decisions. You are the chair. You can shape the agenda and have influence. It comes back to my original question about how the afd sees itself today in a fluid political situation. Will you push very hard on issues such as future eurozone bailouts and the ambition that germany and france appear to have to go into a much deeper fiscal integration. Will you do your utmost to block that . I would love to. But the bulk of money that was taken into the hands of the European Union to permanently rescue the euro, every day, with 1 2 billion, that does not appear on our budget. It is not on the official german budget because it is money coming from the European Central bank, guarantees spoken or given by the european government, by the German Government especially but they are not automatically part of my budget. We are talking sums that exceed these huge budget i am heading. Now it is more than 320 billion a year and it does not even appear. This is one of the scandals of this budget because the money comes from europe. It is future european tax money from european citizens, especially german ones. I understand that the afd really does not like the way the eurozone works and wishes that the deutschmark could be restored to germany. Would you go further . Would you want germany to leave the eu . Do you look at brexit and think that that is something that we want and need in germany as well . I am sympathetic towards the british who voted for brexit. However, the world did not go under in britain, just because you left or are about to leave. So those doomsday prophecies that the world would go under if britain left did not come true. And i believe they will not come true. Having said that. Yes. Do you think the german public has any interest in leaving the eu . They would if they knew how much money had been spent on the euro rescue. But whether afd existed or not, the euro would have a natural end of life. It is an unnatural currency, and one that has to be rescued every day is no currency. It is a contradiction in terms. It is a crash that will happen, it will happen in any case and if we wait too long with that inescapable decision then the euro can really become a question of war and peace. Ijust looked at some opinion polls that showed that you and the afd, having won just short of 13 in the last election, now stand at 15 in the latest national polls. Do you see yourself in the long term becoming, somehow becoming partners of a post Merkel Conservative Party in germany or do you see yourselves replacing that cdu csu . That is a question that is being heavily discussed in our party. To date, no one wants to be in a coalition with us and we do not want to be in a coalition because they follow that supra nationalistic agenda which we do not accept. They follow a planned Central Economic policy of the eurozone, which we do not accept and that includes the liberal democrats here in germany. To date we cannot do a coalition. Things do change and i think they will change quickly. Afd works today from the opposition lines into the government lines and if the leading class of those parties is being replaced, then it will happen quickly. Then maybe we have a different situation. These parties will have to become, will have to accept the very idea of the nationstate again, which they have abandoned. Our good Election Results are only the result of us sticking to that idea. Ultimately, and we should not forget this, your party scored 12. 6 in the last election. I am telling you that your poll standing now may be as high as 15 but that is a very long way from becoming the Biggest Party in germany. If you are to do that or to really gather political momentum, it seems to me that you may have to consider changing some of your core messages and your style and your tone, particularly on issues concerning immigration, the german muslim community, and reaching out in a way that you have refused and failed to do thus far to show that you are not a racist party. How will you do that . I do not recognise your analysis. We are not racist. That is ridiculous and a false allegation. We are not racist. Islam is not a race. So being critics of islam does not make you a racist. That is ridiculous. We have nothing against foreigners, not at all, but we have something against illegal people in our country who have no reason whatsoever. This is true in a strict legal sense for 98 of those whove come since 2015. We need to change a little bit here, and we need to change the tone. We need to be more professional but compared to 2013 when we were, in your words, a not so radical party, we have even gained, while the major parties have lost 20 injust four years. If you repeat that in another four years than we have a majority. We will see what happens then. You really think your party are the future of germany . I am not predicting that, but that is what we are looking for. Thank you very much for being on hardtalk. Hello there. We have been talking for several days now about how cold the weather is on the way, over the next few days i think you will really start to feel the effects of that colder air. Some of us have already seen a little bit of snow and as we get on into next week there could well be more on the way as we increasingly tap into this bitterly cold pool of air currently sitting across siberia. But actually you may well think it is cold enough already, certainly as we start friday morning with a widespread frost, you can see the blue colours on the chart indicating temperatures down below freezing. That is because skies have been clear overnight and that translates into sunny skies as we go on through the day on friday. Some areas of cloud floating around as well, particularly across parts of england, but we could even see just the odd light shower here at times throughout the day. If we take a closer look at 3pm on our High Resolution weather model, you can see large areas of clear skies expected and quite a lot of sunshine across scotland, Northern Ireland and north west england. And extra cloud across the east of england, through wales and into the west it should be largely sunny through the afternoon with temperatures around five or six degrees. The wind is starting to strengthen, particularly in the south, that will continue into the weekend as this area of High Pressure strengthens its grip across scandinavia, squeezing its way southwards and squeezing these strong easterly winds in our direction. Saturday, a chilly feeling day, quite bright. Some good spells of sunshine around and some areas of cloud floating around here and there. Temperatures on the thermometer, four, five, six degrees and with the strength of the wind it will feel colder than that. Into sunday, more of the same essentially, but a greater chance at this stage that it will bring some clout in from the north sea towards parts of eastern scotland, north east england and that cloud could start to produce some snow flurries at this stage. Quite a chilly feeling day, to say the least. As we get into the start of the new week, that is when we really begin to bring this very cold air sitting across siberia in our direction on this strong easterly wind. Through monday and tuesday, temperatures will struggle. The temperatures i show you here are the daytime highs, the absolute highs. Temperatures for a good part will be lower than that and notice even by day somewhere like norwich will struggle to get above freezing and as we continue to tap into that colder air, there certainly is the chance for some snow in places through next week, very tough to predict exactly where at this stage, stay tuned to the forecast. Im rico hizon in singapore. The headlines americas gun lobby hits back, accusing its critics of exploiting the Florida School shooting for political gain. To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun. North korea says its sending its intelligence chief to south korea for the olympics closing ceremony. Donald trump is sending his daughter. Im kasia madera in london. Also in the programme. From the waste bins of fast food restaurants back onto the plates of the philippine poor. We explore the so called pag pag industry