Green politician calls for CDU “fire wall” against AfD
Wants a “guarantee” that the CDU will not form a coalition with the AfD: Emily Büning
Source: David Young/dpa
In the Thuringian state parliament, the AfD had voted for an application by the CDU. The political federal director of the Greens is now calling on the Union to clearly differentiate itself from the “AfD fascists”. A spokeswoman for the federal CDU emphasized that any cooperation with the AfD was still ruled out.
Dhe political federal secretary of the Greens, Emily Büning, has asked the CDU to keep the door to the far right closed. The firewall to the right must stand, said Büning dem “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND). “I expect an unequivocal guarantee from the federal CDU that there will be no coalition with the AfD after state elections in the east.”
Büning was reacting to a joint parliamentary decision by the Thuringian CDU parliamentary group with the AfD. On Thursday, the two parliamentary groups, together with the citizens of Thuringia, decided on a motion according to which the state parliament and state government in Thuringia should not change their public communication.
The CDU MP Christoph Zippel justified his group’s motion with the fact that, according to various surveys, a majority of people in Germany reject the “gender language”. AfD MP Corinna Herold announced before the vote that her parliamentary group would support the CDU motion. She called gendering “language abuse”.
A spokeswoman for the federal CDU told WELT that the fundamental decision of the party congress still applies: “Any cooperation with the AfD is excluded. Irrespective of this, however, submitting your own motions is an elementary part of parliamentary work.” The CDU parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament also brings its motions into parliamentary work and puts them to the vote. “All members of the state parliament then decide independently how to behave.”
“First a Prime Minister by Höcke’s grace, now jointly decided applications,” criticized the Green politician Büning, alluding to the election of short-term Prime Minister Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) in February 2020. Kemmerich’s election, in which AfD votes were decisive, had caused a government crisis in Thuringia at the time. After nationwide criticism, he resigned as prime minister a few days later.
The Thuringian AfD, whose party leader is the controversial right winger Björn Höcke, is being monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution for right-wing extremist tendencies. Büning now appealed to CDU leader Friedrich Merz and CDU general secretary Mario Czaja: “Don’t stick your head in the sand and don’t hide from what’s happening in Thuringia.” AfD fascists”.