After severe criticism of his statements on how to deal with the AfD at the local level, CDU leader Friedrich Merz is trying to put things into perspective. On Twitter he wrote on Monday morning: “To make it clear again, and I never said it differently: the resolution of the CDU applies. There will also be no cooperation between the CDU and the AfD at the municipal level.”
On Sunday, Merz said in the ZDF summer interview that local politics is different from state and federal politics. If the AfD has elected a district administrator in Thuringia and a mayor in Saxony-Anhalt, then these are democratic elections. “We have to accept that. And of course the local parliaments have to look for ways to shape the city, the state and the district together.” On Sunday evening, Merz tweeted: “The issue of cooperation with the AfD affects the legislative bodies, i.e. in the European Parliament, in the Bundestag and in the state parliaments.”
After these statements, numerous prominent Union politicians distanced themselves from the CDU chairman, some with angry reactions:
CSU boss Markus Soder issued a clear rejection of cooperation with the AfD at the municipal level. “The CSU rejects any cooperation with the AfD – regardless of the political level,” wrote the Bavarian Prime Minister on Twitter. “Because the AfD is anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and divides our society. That is not compatible with our values.”
The CDU foreign politician Norbert Rottgen stressed, his party has decided to ban cooperation with the AfD. “Anyone who wants to change that must find a majority at a federal party conference of the #CDU.”
The decision on incompatibility states, among other things: “Anyone who advocates rapprochement or even cooperation with the AfD in the CDU must know that they are approaching a party that deliberately tolerates right-wing extremist ideas, anti-Semitism and racism in its ranks. (…) The CDU rejects any coalitions or similar forms of cooperation with the AfD.”
He also confirmed that former CDU general secretary Rupert Polenz: “No, dear Friedrich Merz. Christian Democrats do NOTHING WITH members of a fascist party. Not even in the cities and communities. The CDU chairman should also adhere to the decisions of the CDU federal party conference.”
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner wrote on Twitter: “The AfD only knows against and division. Where should there be COLLABORATION? The CDU cannot, will not and will not work with a party whose business model is hatred, division and exclusion.”
Bundestag Vice: “For Christian Democrats, right-wing extremists are ALWAYS enemies!”
The Vice-President of the Bundestag Yvonne Magwaswho is also a member of the CDU presidium, wrote on Twitter: “Whether it’s the local council or the Bundestag, right-wing radicals remain right-wing radicals. For Christian Democrats, right-wing radicals are ALWAYS the enemy!”
The CDU politician and former Prime Minister of Saarland Tobias Hans wrote on Twitter about Merz’s statements: “This is the creeping dilution of party congress decisions after electoral successes by the extreme right. Resist the beginnings!”
The new CDU general secretary Carsten Linneman on the other hand, defended his boss: For the CDU it was clear that there was “no cooperation with the AfD”, “no matter what level”, said Linnemann Picture. “Friedrich Merz sees it that way, although he rightly points to the difficult implementation on site. Because when the local parliament is about a new daycare center, we can’t just vote against it because the AfD votes. We don’t make ourselves dependent on right-wing extremists.”
The AfD immediately took up the Merz statements positively and wants to make future cooperation possible together with the CDU. The Chairman Tino Chrupalla wrote on Twitter: “Now the first stones are falling from the black-green firewall. In the federal states and the federal government we will tear down the wall together. The winners will be the citizens who regain prosperity, freedom and security through interest-driven politics.”
Merz had described the Union as an “alternative for Germany with substance” last week at the retreat of the CSU state group. He also received criticism for this. At the beginning of his tenure as party leader, he had promised “a firewall to the AfD.” In March 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist. Merz rejected a ban on the party in the ZDF interview: “Party bans have never led to solving a political problem.”
In surveys, the AfD is currently at 20 to 22 percent nationwide and would be the second strongest force behind the Union with 26 to 28 percent. Most recently, in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, Robert Stuhlmann was elected Germany’s first AfD district administrator. In Raguhn-Jeßnitz in Saxony-Anhalt, an AfD politician was appointed full-time mayor.