When taking office as CDU leader in January 2022, Friedrich Merz made it clear that with him there would be a “firewall” against the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany. Is this wall crumbling now? In a TV interview on Sunday, the conservative politician reiterated that the Union would not cooperate with the AfD. However, he limited this to “legislators” and “government formations”. Local politics differs from state and federal politics.
If the AfD has elected a district administrator in Thuringia and a mayor in Saxony-Anhalt, then these are democratic elections. “We have to accept that. And of course the local parliaments have to look for ways to shape the city, the state, the district together,” Merz said in the ZDF “summer interview”. Merz deserved a storm of indignation for these statements. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert accused him of “breaking a taboo”.
The change of course, which Merz is clearly aiming for, is based on a “totally fragile argument,” Kühnert said in the ZDF morning magazine on Monday. “The AfD is allowed to participate in democratic elections, can win mandates, fulfill, has all parliamentary rights,” Kühnert said. “But it has no right – like all other parties – to one thing, namely that it cooperates politically, that it must be part of the local majority,” continued Kühnert. Green MP Andreas Audretsch warned on Twitter: “When Merz calls for acceptance of right-wing extremists, he is actively breaking down the firewall, little by little, almost every day now.”
Mayor of Berlin: ‘AfD knows only opposition and division’
But there was also a lot of criticism within his own party. “The AfD knows only opposition and division,” Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) wrote on Twitter. “Where should we collaborate?” Bavarian 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, far-right and divides our society,” the leader of the CDU’s sister party wrote on Twitter.
After this massive criticism, Merz felt compelled to go back a bit to save his “firewall”: “I never said it any other way: the decision of the CDU is valid. There will also be no cooperation between the CDU and the AfD at the municipal level,” Merz wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Vortex on “Alternative to Germany with content”
However, it was not the first statement towards the AfD that caused irritation within his own party. Because at the withdrawal of the CSU state group in the Upper Bavarian Andechs Monastery, he had called the Union the “alternative for Germany with substance”.
Source: Krone

I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.