10 years AfD
Kühnert calls for differentiation from the AfD
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert calls for a clear demarcation from the AfD. photo
© Sebastian Willnow/dpa
The AfD is celebrating its tenth anniversary today. SPD general secretary emphasizes: The “pariah among the parties” must continue to have no political effect. The “firewall to the blue-brown edge” must be in place.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the AfD, SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert called for a clear demarcation from the party.
“It is crucial for the basic democratic consensus of our society that the AfD, as a pariah among the parties, will not be able to achieve any direct political effect in the future – not only in federal politics, but everywhere,” said Kühnert of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. In particular, the parties in the liberal-conservative spectrum are called upon “not just to maintain the firewall to the blue-brown border, but to stabilize it.”
SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast made a similar statement. “For the SPD it was clear from day one: there will never be cooperation with these enemies of democracy,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. However, other parties are more flexible, which is dangerous. In the east, the AfD threatens to become a permanent political force. “This is extremely dangerous.”
In Königstein, Hesse, the AfD wants to celebrate its tenth anniversary this Monday. AfD co-head Alice Weidel sees a foreseeable chance of helping to govern in view of the strong polls in eastern German states, as she said at the beginning of the year with a view to the 2024 state elections in Saxony and Thuringia. However, the CDU, as a theoretical partner from the AfD point of view, has ruled out cooperation with the right-wing populists by party convention resolution.