Since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, there has been a consensus amongst Germany’s main political parties that the far and extreme right must never be allowed in government again. This so-called firewall on the far-right has also extended to open collaboration with far-right parties in any capacity.
However, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) breached what has become known as the on Wednesday. Party leader Friedrich Merz put forward a motion for strict immigration laws, which passed with the support of (AfD).
Speaking with public broadcaster ARD, Social Democrat (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Merz of ending a decades-long consensus in “that there would be no cooperation between democratic parties and the extreme right.”
The “firewall” has fallen, Scholz said.
CDU immigration resolution passes with AfD support
Since November, Scholz has been leading a minority government with the Greens after the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) withdrew from the coalition over a budget spat.
The government collapse triggered , scheduled for February 23. Merz’s CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, have a strong lead in the polling at about 30%.
The conservatives have made immigration reform a cornerstone of his campaign following two in Germany where the suspected assailants were rejected asylum seekers scheduled for deportation. To that end, on Wednesday, Merz put forward the asylum reform revolution. The AfD had made it known they would support the measure, and party leader even wrote on social media site X ahead of the vote that her party had coordinated with the CDU about the non-binding motion.
Ahead of the vote, Merz repeatedly stated he did not care who supported his resolution as long as it passed — which it did, with votes from his bloc, the AfD, and some members of the FDP. Afterward, the CDU leader said he very much regretted that the AfD had helped him gain the majority.
Merz had sworn off AfD cooperation
At its national conference in 2018, the CDU made the “AfD firewall” official party policy by adopting what it called the “incompatibility resolution.” It states: “The CDU in Germany rejects coalitions and similar forms of cooperation with both the Left Party and the Alternative for Germany.”
Immediately after the collapse of Scholz’s coalition, Merz reaffirmed this policy by saying he would not introduce any bills before the election where the AfD could play the role of kingmaker.
was not a legally binding bill, but rather a “motion for resolution” that is meant to express the will of parliament. However, a formal amendment to Germany’s immigration law is up for debate in the Bundestag on Friday. Again, the CDU, AfD, FDP, and populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) are likely to vote in favor.
A ‘firewall’ only on the national level?
Despite repeated claims that there is a “firewall” against the AfD, political scientists have pointed out that almost all of Germany’s political parties — most commonly the CDU — have openly worked with the far-right in state parliaments and at the local level. For example, a highly controversial hijab ban in elementary schools in one district of Berlin was made possible by cooperation between the AfD and the CDU.
Recently, researchers Anika Taschke and Steven Hummel published a list of 120 incidents in which other parties openly collaborated with the AfD between 2019 and 2023.
Speaking with ARD after Wednesday’s vote, Merz denied claims from the AfD that his party had courted their opinion. He denied cooperating with the far-right, saying that the CDU had simply presented its own policy, one that the AfD just happens to agree with.
“A firewall is the wrong image,” he said, adding that he wants to prevent “a conflagration throughout Germany” and that most Germans approve of tougher immigration laws.
Merz is ‘wrong’, says Merkel
Former CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel, who rarely comments on currents events since retiring from politics in 2021, on Thursday expressing her disapproval of Merz’s actions.
In her statement, she wrote that Merz assured her in November that he would not work with parties considered on the far-left and far-right. She said that he was “wrong” to break his pledge.
As for the German public, it is deeply divided over the country’s traditional parties cooperating with the AfD. According to a poll published Thursday by public broadcaster ZDF, some 47% of German voters have no problem with the behavior of the CDU/CSU. Another 47% said they were troubled by it. At the same time, 71% of voters said they agreed with the statement that the AfD is a threat to democracy.
This article was originally written in German.
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