Merz ruled out any cooperation with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party while he was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), but opposed the ban of the party.
He said he would not cooperate with a party "that questions everything that has made Germany strong in recent decades". "At least not with me as leader of the CDU," Merz said, according to the DPA news agency.
"This is not an Alternative for Germany, this is a party for a different Germany," the chancellor said, emphasizing that "the CDU and the AfD have nothing in common". "Alternative for Germany," he said, opposes the European Union, the eurozone, NATO and universal military service. “It opposes everything that has made the Federal Republic of Germany great and strong over the past eight decades“, the German prime minister said.
At the same time, Merz spoke out against initiating a ban on the “Alternative for Germany“. He explained that while this was possible, the legal obstacles were very serious. “Above all, we need to make a convincing offer to German voters so that they do not even consider voting for this party in the next elections“, Merz noted.
According to the latest survey conducted by the INSA sociological research institute for the Bild newspaper, the level of support for the AfD has reached a record 27%. This puts the party ahead of the CDU/CSU bloc, which has 25%.