German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also heads the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), declared war on the far right in Germany today, naming it a "main political rival" ahead of five state votes next year, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
"This party openly wants to destroy the CDU, it wants Germany to become another country," Merz said during a press conference in Berlin after a two-day party rally. "The division between us is not limited to a few details. From "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) divide us on fundamental issues and political convictions," he added, accusing the party of questioning the "fundamental decisions" that led to the creation of the Federal Republic in 1949 after World War II. The AfD is considered a Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party with strong pro-Russian positions.
In some opinion polls, the AfD is ahead of the ruling CDU, and the far-right party became the second political force in the parliamentary elections in February this year. The CDU wants to prevent the particularly strong growth of their support in East, but also in West Germany.
The CDU chairman categorically rejected calls from its Bavarian ally, the Christian Social Union (CSU), which has declared itself in favor of cooperation with the far right. The CDU believes that the "cordon sanitaire" strategy decided at a party congress in 2018 has failed to hinder the AfD's progress.
"We will distinguish ourselves very clearly and unequivocally. A hand extended to us by the AfD is actually a hand that wants to destroy us," Merz stressed regarding the AfD's proposals for cooperation.
Next year, five state elections are scheduled in Germany, two of which are in the eastern German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the AfD is the leading political force in current polls. In the western parts of the country, the party is steadily gaining support and hopes to take second or third place in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin, immediately after the CDU, but on a par with the Social Democrats and the Greens, AFP notes.