German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has once again categorically ruled out any rapprochement between his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), linking the issue directly to his position as party leader. “There will be no cooperation with the AfD, at least not under me as chairman of the CDU of Germany,” Merz said on Saturday at a CDU event in Meschede, in the Sauerland region.
Other senior Union politicians also insisted on maintaining the so-called “firewall” separating the CDU from the AfD. On Sunday, the CDU leadership will meet for a closed-door presidium retreat to discuss the matter. The CDU’s 2018 national party conference adopted an incompatibility resolution stating that the party rejects “coalitions and similar forms of cooperation” with the AfD, parts of which are classified as right-wing extremist. That resolution remains in force.
Ahead of the presidium meeting, several former and current Union politicians had called for the party to open itself to the right. Merz firmly rejected these calls on Saturday. “There are no commonalities between the CDU and the AfD,” he said. Earlier, in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Merz said the CDU must “make the differences between us and the AfD much clearer.” He warned that “the false narrative is taking hold in public perception: that we could achieve everything with the AfD if we just tore down this ‘firewall.’”
Before the CDU presidium meeting at the party’s headquarters, the Konrad Adenauer House, several prominent party members expressed their support for Merz. CDU Deputy Chairman Karl-Josef Laumann told the Funke media group that the “content and positions” of the AfD are “incompatible (...) with the values of Christian democracy and therefore also with the CDU,” calling the AfD a “Nazi party.”
Deputy party leader Andreas Jung also rejected any softening of the stance toward the AfD. “There will be no policy shift toward opening up to the AfD, but rather a strategic debate on how to fight them more effectively,” Jung told the Tagesspiegel before the meeting. “Our social vision and political approach as a people’s party of the center are completely incompatible with the extremist tendencies of the AfD.”
CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter warned in the Tagesspiegel that any opening toward the AfD would mark the “self-destruction” of the CDU. The party, he said, must “finally have the courage to clearly represent our Christian democratic values and convictions, and not let ourselves be driven by polls or the extremes.”
CSU General Secretary Martin Huber told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that “the AfD is a danger to Germany.” The party, he said, is “shaped by Kremlin lackeys” and wants to “leave NATO, leave the EU, and leave the euro.” He added that “developments in other European countries have always shown: wherever Christian Democrats cooperated with far-right parties, the Christian Democrats eventually disappeared.” The CSU, he stressed, will continue to reject cooperation with the AfD “at all levels.”
In contrast, Brandenburg state party leader Jan Redmann argued for taking votes in parliament without regard to how majorities come about. “The term ‘firewall’ is being instrumentalized by the political left to discredit any position to the right of center,” he told the Tagesspiegel. “We do not elevate the AfD through pointless debates; we do not care whether they vote with or against us—we follow our course and address the issues.”
The debate comes amid a slump in the Union’s polling numbers and a surge for the AfD. Germany faces five state elections next year. According to recent polls, the AfD could emerge as the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while in Baden-Württemberg it could move into second place ahead of the Greens. Elections will also be held in Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin.
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