The CDU in particular has been criticized for its joint vote with the AfD in Thuringia. In an interview, party leader Merz protested against the fact that there had been agreements: the “firewall” was in place.
The tax cut decided by the Thuringian state parliament continues to cause a stir in federal politics. Although the opposition CDU had submitted the motion, it was passed because, in addition to the FDP, the AfD also voted for it. The Thuringian AfD is classified as a right-wing extremist in the Free State by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and is monitored. The red-red-green government does not have its own majority.
The CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz has now defended the Thuringian CDU state parliamentary group against criticism. “We don’t base ourselves on who agrees, but rather on what we think is right in the matter, and it stays that way,” said Merz in an interview with the broadcasters ProSieben and Sat1. In the television interview, Merz did not want to see the fact that the AfD celebrated the vote as the end of the “firewall” invoked by the CDU as a problem. “To be honest, I’m not very interested in what the AfD says about it,” he said.
Merz: Günther’s statement is an individual opinion
The decision with AfD votes is not without controversy in the Union either. Criticism came from Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther, who… ZDF spoke of a “serious wrong decision”. “The increasing radicalization of the AfD requires an even more consistent stance, especially from a conservative party,” he said.
The CDU leader reacted irritably to Günther’s criticism of his Thuringian party colleagues. Günther’s statements were an “individual opinion in the CDU,” said Merz. “There’s no one else who shares this.” The CDU has coordinated its approach “very closely internally, including with all CDU state associations,” said the party leader. “That is the opinion of the CDU.”
Merz assured in the conversation that there had been “no talks, no negotiations, no agreements” between the CDU and AfD in Thuringia.
According to Buschmann, no cooperation
The FDP is also criticized for the vote. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann tried to explain the behavior of the Liberals in the Thuringian state parliament. “If a democratic party like the CDU submits a proposal that corresponds 100 percent to the party decisions of the FDP, and we agree to it, it is difficult to scandalize,” he told the VRM daily newspapers and portals.
“We don’t work with the AfD,” he emphasized. The question of cooperation therefore arises for the CDU and not for the Liberals. “You can ask yourself whether the CDU should have submitted this proposal. But it wasn’t us.” It must be possible to approve applications for tax relief for citizens, said Buschmann. “Giving the AfD the power to decide what people can talk about and discuss about will only make them stronger.”
Esken: Where is the outcry?
The outrage continues in the camp of the SPD, the Greens and the Left. The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken referred in the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” to the CDU leader’s statement that the “firewall” stood by the AfD: “How much is Friedrich Merz’s word in the CDU anymore worth, and where is the outcry within the Union?”.