Germany's chancellor rejects calls to relax 'firewall' to work with German far-right AfD party

Published on 20/10/2025 - 17:46 GMT+2

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected calls from immoderate successful his statement to relax its refusal to woody pinch nan far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) connected Monday, declaring that nan still-growing statement has thing successful communal pinch his conservatives.

The anti-migration AfD vanished 2nd successful Germany's threat nationalist predetermination successful February and polls since past person shown its support guidelines continues to grow, pinch immoderate putting it level pinch aliases moreover up of Merz's Union bloc.

Merz's astir six-month-old governing conjugation pinch nan centre-left Social Democrats has irritated galore voters pinch nationalist disagreements connected a number of issues.

Five of Germany's 16 states clasp location elections adjacent year, including 2 successful nan formerly communist east, wherever AfD is peculiarly beardown and has a bully chance of finishing first.

A normal of Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) successful 2018 rejected immoderate "coalitions and akin forms of cooperation" pinch AfD, arsenic good arsenic pinch The Left statement astatine nan different extremity of nan governmental spectrum.

That limits its room for manoeuvre successful a changing governmental scenery successful which majorities for coalitions of like-minded parties are progressively rare.

Last week, respective conservatives — including Peter Tauber, a erstwhile CDU wide secretary, and erstwhile Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg — based on for a much relaxed attack to nan AfD.

Tauber suggested a "new argumentation of reddish lines" that intelligibly allows nan CDU to make decisions that summation nan far-right party's support.

Merz said Monday that nary 1 successful nan statement activity questions nan 2018 determination and "we won't alteration anything," sloppy of calls from what he called "a fewer marginal figures."

"There is nary communal crushed betwixt this statement and us," Merz told reporters aft a gathering of nan CDU's leadership.

He rejected suggestions that nan CDU could push done its priorities pinch AfD, declaring that nan far-right statement opposes not only nan policies of nan past 10 years, but decades of decisions that made modern Germany successful.

AfD has called many times for nan CDU to dismantle what is wide known arsenic nan firewall against moving pinch nan acold right.

But its "outstretched manus is, successful reality, a manus that wants to destruct us," Merz said.

The chancellor acknowledged that his conjugation has engaged successful "too galore nationalist discussions" since it took agency successful May, pinch priorities that included revitalising Germany's stagnant system and reducing irregular migration.

"These arguments hide what nan authorities has rightly put connected way successful caller months," he added.

The AfD's support has remained precocious contempt Germany's home intelligence agency classifying it arsenic a right-wing extremist organisation, a nickname that it suspended aft nan AfD launched a ineligible challenge.