CDU boss Friedrich Merz rejects cooperation with AfD on a legally level, but sees exceptions at the local level

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CDU-Chef Friedrich Merz äußerte sich am Sonntag im ZDF zum Umgang mit der AfD. Er betonte, dass es keine Regierungsbeteiligung der AfD geben werde und sie auch keine Mehrheit dafür bekommen werde. Allerdings schränkte er ein, dass das Tabu einer Zusammenarbeit mit der AfD nur für gesetzgebende Körperschaften wie das Europäische Parlament, den Bundestag und die Landtage gelte. Auf kommunaler Ebene sei die Parteipolitisierung bereits zu weit fortgeschritten, so Merz. Diese Äußerung widerspricht jedoch einem Beschluss des CDU-Parteitags von 2018, in dem Koalitionen und ähnliche Formen der Zusammenarbeit sowohl mit der Linkspartei als auch mit der Alternative für Deutschland abgelehnt …
CDU boss Friedrich Merz commented on Sunday in ZDF on how to deal with the AfD. He emphasized that there would be no government participation of the AfD and that it would not get a majority for it. However, he restricted the fact that the taboo of cooperation with the AfD only applies to legislative bodies such as the European Parliament, the Bundestag and the state parliament. At the municipal level, party politization is already too advanced, said Merz. However, this statement contradicts a decision of the 2018 CDU party conference, in which coalitions and similar forms of cooperation with both the Left Party and the alternative for Germany rejected ... (Symbolbild/MB)

CDU boss Friedrich Merz commented on Sunday in ZDF on how to deal with the AfD. He emphasized that there would be no government participation of the AfD and that it would not get a majority for it. However, he restricted the fact that the taboo of cooperation with the AfD only applies to legislative bodies such as the European Parliament, the Bundestag and the state parliament. At the municipal level, party politization is already too advanced, says Merz.

This statement, however, contradicts a decision of the 2018 CDU party conference, in which coalitions and similar forms of cooperation are rejected with both the Left Party and the alternative for Germany. The municipal level is not excluded. A CDU decision of 2020 also confirms the rejection of cooperation with the AfD and the Left Party due to various reasons.

In a ZDF contribution before the interview with Merz, however, several CDU communal politicians spoke out for a cooperation with the AfD at the municipal level and thus opposed the “fire wall” of the CDU. This led to criticism from various political parties.

The AfD recorded record values ​​of 20 to 22 percent in nationwide surveys. Most recently, an AfD district administrator was elected in Thuringia and a full-time mayor of the Afd.

in a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt

merz 'advance received criticism in the CDU and other parties. Kai Wegner, the governing mayor of Berlin, wrote on Twitter that the AfD only stands for rejection and division and that there is therefore no cooperation. Ruprecht Polenz, former CDU general secretary, emphasized that the CDU chairman was bound to the decisions of the CDU federal party conference and had excluded any cooperation with the AfD.

The Minister of Education of Schleswig-Holstein, Karin Prien, tweeted that the decision was clear and that she could not imagine working with extremists for her party. The leader of the left, Dietmar Bartsch, also commented on criticism and said that Merz ‘Brandwall was getting big holes.

When asked what the AfD is offering people and the CDU, Merz emphasized that the CDU is not at the AfD trade fair, but the largest opposition group in the Bundestag and thus represent the alternative to the current federal government. However, he emphasized that the Union had to deliver concepts and regain trust.

At a exam of the CSU national group,

merz used the term that the Union was the "alternative for Germany with substance". On ZDF, he again emphasized that opposition always means alternative to the federal government, since there is always government and opposition in a democracy.