German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has once again vowed that his conservative CDU/CSU coalition will “clearly and unambiguously” distance itself from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of five state elections next year.
“Now we will also be very clear and very clear about where the AfD stands in terms of content, and we will distance ourselves very clearly and clearly from them,” he said after a party conference in Berlin.
He once again stressed that his party would not cooperate with the AfD under the so-called firewall – despite the far-right party’s strong presence in the federal and some state legislatures, which would facilitate the passage of some bills introduced by mainstream parties.
“This party has declared its intention to destroy the CDU. It wants a separate country,” Merz said.
“It’s not just details that separate us. We differ from the AfD because of fundamental issues and fundamental political commitments,” he said.
“The hand that the AfD extends again and again is actually the hand that wants to destroy us,” Merz said, referring to the AfD’s regular offers for cooperation.
The AfD received a record 20.8% of the vote in February’s general elections and is polling almost 40% in the two former communist East German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Some of its branches have been declared right-wing extremists by German intelligence services, while the move to reclassify the entire AfD as such is currently pending a court decision on a lawsuit brought by the party.
State elections will be held in 2026 in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin.