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CDU Politicians Warn Against Cooperation with AfD Ahead of Eastern Elections
🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

CDU Politicians Warn Against Cooperation with AfD Ahead of Eastern Elections

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Leading CDU politicians are warning against any cooperation with the far-right AfD party ahead of eastern German state elections.
  • They argue that collaborating with the AfD would be detrimental to the CDU's identity and future.
  • The CDU's party congress has officially banned coalitions with both the Left party and the AfD, but upcoming election results could create pressure.

Prominent figures within Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are issuing stark warnings against any form of collaboration with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This stance comes as the CDU faces crucial state elections in eastern Germany this September.

I can only warn against cooperating with the AfD in any form.

— Dennis TheringHamburg CDU chairman, expressing concerns about potential collaboration.

Dennis Radtke, chairman of the party's labor wing, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that "the moment the CDU reaches out to the AfD, it is broken." Hamburg CDU chairman Dennis Thering echoed these sentiments, cautioning against "cooperating with the AfD in any form." Thering predicts "massive disruptions" within the CDU should a partnership emerge after the elections, stating, "That would be the beginning of the end."

That would be the beginning of the end.

— Dennis TheringHamburg CDU chairman, describing the potential consequences of cooperating with the AfD.

These warnings underscore the CDU's official party congress resolution, which prohibits coalitions and similar cooperative measures with both the Left party and the AfD. However, the political landscape in states like Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the AfD currently leads in polls, could place significant pressure on CDU state chapters to reconsider their position. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul declared the AfD and its ideology "the greatest danger to our democracy," emphasizing a firm stance against any compromise. He stated, "There is only one position: against it. Anyone who weakens that can continue without me."

The AfD and its ideology are the greatest danger to our democracy.

— Herbert ReulNRW Interior Minister, stating his strong opposition to the AfD.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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