Friedrich Merz pledges his conservative CDU will not cooperate with the far-right Alternative for Germany, calling the party a threat to the country’s democracy.
STUTTGART: Germany’s main conservative party will not partner with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
CDU leader Friedrich Merz made the pledge at a national party conference in Stuttgart on Friday.
“We will not allow these people from the so-called Alternative for Germany to ruin our country,” Merz told party members.
He stated with full conviction that the AfD cannot be a partner for the Christian Democratic Union.
The AfD must expect a bitter fight from conservatives, Merz added.
His vow upholds an informal pact among Germany’s political mainstream to shun the far-right party.
Mainstream parties refuse to give AfD lawmakers influential parliamentary positions or form coalitions with them.
The AfD argues this widespread political isolation is undemocratic.
Many Germans view the party’s rise with alarm, drawing parallels to the Nazi Party’s legal ascent in the 1930s.
