The AfD is urging the German federal government to bring all German gold reserves currently held abroad back to Germany. On Wednesday, the AfD parliamentary group plans to table a motion titled “Fully Return German State Gold to Germany” in the Bundestag, according to the “Tagesspiegel”.
The motion argues that gold serves as an important psychological and material guarantor of stability. It insists that “state gold must be stored entirely in domestic German vaults”. This step, the AfD claims, is necessary and overdue to guarantee ownership, availability and operational ability.
In a six‑page proposal it states that in crisis or heightened tension situations physical access to gold stored overseas could be blocked by sanctions. The AfD also contends that trust in the EU or the United States can no longer be assumed, citing recent discussions about freezing or confiscating foreign state assets.
As evidence, the party points to EU deliberations on freezing and confiscating Russian assets and to former President Trump’s plans to control Venezuela’s oil revenue. The motion further links the security of the gold reserves to Russia’s war in Ukraine. It warns that if the German government were ever late in paying for U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, the United States could demand a “settlement” in German gold and enforce it, effectively holding the payment back in gold‑valued terms.
The SPD criticized the AfD for “panic‑making”. Frauke Heiligenstadt, the SPD’s finance spokesperson in the Bundestag, told “Tagesspiegel” that the AfD is again trying to politicize uncertainty and profit from legitimate concerns, “turning cheap capital into a tool”. She added that Germany’s gold reserves are well diversified.
Fritz Güntzler, the finance spokesperson for the Union caucus, pointed out that in an absolute emergency the gold reserves can also supply critical imports. “Therefore it makes sense to keep part of the reserves abroad, especially in the United States, given the position of the U.S. dollar” he told “Tagesspiegel”. He argued that publicly speculating on a reduction of the gold reserves is not helpful.
