criticism from within their own ranks
“No municipal cooperation”: Merz rows back after AfD statements
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz
© Dominik Asbach/ZDF/DPA
After the fierce internal party criticism of Friedrich Merz’s comments on the AfD in the ZDF summer interview, the CDU chairman rowed back. On Twitter he makes it clear: “No cooperation at the municipal level either.”
After massive criticism from his own party, CDU leader Friedrich Merz has decided to clarify his position on the AfD seen caused. “To make it clear once again, and I never said it any other way: the resolution of the CDU applies,” Merz wrote on Twitter on Monday morning. “There will also be no cooperation between the CDU and the AfD at the municipal level.”
On Sunday, the CDU leader had again ruled out cooperation between his party and the AfD at state or federal level, but considered contacts at the local level to be possible. At the municipal level, democratically elected AfD officials must be dealt with more pragmatically, Merz said in the ZDF “summer interview”. “If a district administrator, a mayor, who belongs to the AfD, is elected there, it goes without saying that you then look for ways to continue working together in this city.”
On the other hand, Merz tweeted on Sunday evening: “The topic of cooperation with the AfD affects the legislative bodies, i.e. in the European Parliament, in the Bundestag and in the state parliaments.” This corresponded to the line he had previously represented in the ZDF summer interview.
Union criticizes Friedrich Merz – Söder also distances himself
The statement was met with widespread rejection in the Union. “The AfD only knows opposition and division,” wrote Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) on Twitter. “Where should there be cooperation?” The CDU “cannot work with a party whose business model is hatred, division and exclusion”.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) confirmed on Monday that his party rejects any cooperation with the AfD, “regardless of the political level”. Because the AfD is “anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and divides our society,” wrote the chairman of the sister party CSU on Twitter. “It’s not compatible with our values.”