Millionaires consider leaving Germany over rise of far-Right
More than a third of German millionaires are considering leaving the country because of the instability caused by mass migration and the rise of the far-Right, a study has found.
In a survey of 1,000 German millionaires, 37 per cent said they were more likely to leave Germany following the results of last month's election, in which the far-Right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party secured an unprecedented second place.
Of those considering an exit from Germany, 42 per cent cited the rise of the far-Right as their main reason for doing so, while 47 per cent cited concerns about immigration.
The survey results suggest that Germany's fraught political atmosphere could lead to a 'brain drain' of top business talent, even as Friedrich Merz, the incoming chancellor, tries to turbocharge the economy with a special fund of €500 billion (£420 billion).
'Wealthy Germans are clearly feeling fatigued by the state of politics at home, and are looking elsewhere for a 'plan B',' said Armand Arton, the chief executive of Arton Capital, which carried out the survey on German millionaires with a net worth of up to €5 million.
'German millionaires are motivated to leave for three main reasons: immigration, the rise of the far-Right, and the prospect of higher taxes for the wealthy,' he added.
'Our data reflects the polarisation that's increasingly dominating European politics: Left-leaning millionaires are worried about the rise of the far-Right, and politically Right-leaning millionaires are worried about immigration.'
Last month's election exposed a deep schism in Germany, where voters from the Western bloc opted for centrist parties while those in the former Communist East voted strongly for the far-Right AfD.
With some 20 per cent casting their votes for the AfD, a far-Right party is set to become the main opposition group in the next parliament for the first time in Germany's post-war history.
Severe tensions over mass migration, fuelled by a string of terror attacks committed by asylum seekers and refugees, played a significant role in the election campaign, as well as concerns over Russia and the ailing German economy.
Economists from the Handelsblatt Research Group warned in January that the economy was facing its 'greatest crisis in post-war history', blaming it on the pandemic, the energy crisis and inflation.
Mr Merz has vowed to create a special fund for infrastructure projects in Germany and scrap spending limits on major defence projects, to help the economy recover.
The anti-migrant, anti-Islam AfD strongly rejects its far-Right label, and says it simply reflects the views of normal Germans who are fed up with mass migration, costly military support for Ukraine and the 'mainstream' political elite.
But the party has also been embroiled in scandals over members using Nazi slogans in speeches, playing down SS war crimes and suggesting that the Holocaust was a mere 'speck of bird mess' in an otherwise proud national history.
The AfD is being investigated as a suspected extremist group by Germany's domestic intelligence services, while its youth wing, Junge Alternative, was disbanded after members were caught joking about rounding up Jews into ghettos and shooting them.
Shortly after the election results, Hanna Veiler, the president of the Jewish Student Union of Germany, announced she would leave the country because of the AfD surge.
'For me, this federal election has crossed a red line, and my decision is final: I will leave Germany.'
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