polarization
Kretschmer on AfD-Hoch: It “is starting to slip”
“Energy transition, heating law, refugee policy and the Russia embargo have brought the AfD victory,” says Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU). photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa
The AfD has once again won an election in eastern Germany. Saxony’s Prime Minister fears a development similar to that in the USA – and calls for “a different political approach”.
Even in the elections in Sonneberg, Thuringia, where for the first time an AfD politician was elected district administrator, Germany issues played a particularly important role. “Energy transition, heating law, refugee policy and the Russia embargo have brought victory to the AfD. These issues threaten to tear society apart,” says Kretschmer. Politicians resorted to “blame and dissociation instead of dealing with uncomfortable truths”. That is not responsible. “Now it has to be a matter of fact.”
When asked about the statements made by CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who had declared the Greens the main opponent in the federal government, Kretschmer said: “The federal government and the opposition can certainly work together in times of crisis. But this requires the willingness of the traffic light government.” The relationship between the federal and state governments has never been as bad as it is now. “The federal government has to choose a different political approach. In Germany we have to talk to each other more.” The situation is serious, warned Kretschmer. “We have to recognize that there is more than one opinion.”