German anti-euro party officially launched

BERLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- German anti-euro political party Alternative fur Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) was officially launched over the weekend, openly calling for "orderly dissolution of the euro."

At the party congress attended by some 1,500 delegates on Sunday, party lead candidate Bernd Lucke said an orderly dissolution of the eurozone would ease nationalist friction between European states.

He also criticized the policies and rescue measures intended to save the euro as "breaches of fundamental principles of democratic, legal and economic rules."

The anti-euro party started to take shape in February with the goal of "dissolution of the euro in favor of national currencies or smaller currency unions," demanding an end to aid payments and the dismantling of the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund.

It has attracted 7,500 supporters, including many prominent university professors, and aims to contend in the general elections in September.

A TSN-Emnid poll in March found that 26 percent of German voters would consider voting for a party that wants to leave the eurozone in the national election in September.

A political party has to collect a minimum of 2,000 signatures in each of Germany's 16 states or 0.1 percent of each state's population so as to join federal election. It also has to win 5 percent of the vote to win seats in the lower house of the parliament.

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