right-wing populism
Faeser warns against adopting AfD language
“The AfD is becoming an opportunity death, especially for the regions that need an economic upswing,” says Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
“The firewall to the right” must remain in place, warns the interior minister, with a view to the elections in Thuringia – also so as not to endanger Germany as a business location.
After the election of the first nationwide AfD district administrator in Thuringia, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser called for a clear demarcation from the party. “There must be no pandering and no adoption of the AfD’s political positions and inhumane and anti-democratic language,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The AfD always becomes strong when right-wing issues are whipped up in mainstream society and terms and positions are adopted.”
No Democrat should leave any doubt that “the firewall to the right” is in place. “In Thuringia, this firewall has been shaking ever since the short-term election of a prime minister with votes from the AfD. This is how borders are shifting in the political spectrum that must not be shifted.” In 2020, the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister of Thuringia with votes from the CDU, AfD and FDP, but resigned shortly afterwards after great public outrage.
Faeser warned that the AfD was fueling a climate that was damaging to Germany as a business location. “Such a climate discourages qualified workers and skilled workers from abroad, who our economy urgently needs. This is how the AfD becomes a death opportunity, especially for those regions that need an economic upswing and are urgently dependent on qualified workers.”
In the southern Thuringian district of Sonneberg, an AfD candidate was elected district administrator for the first time in Germany on Sunday. This had further fueled the debate about responsibility for the AfD’s current high. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution rated the Thuringian AfD as “safe right-wing extremist”, nationwide the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the party as a suspected case.