FDP State Leader in Southwest Germany Calls for Red Lines Instead of AfD Firewall

Hans-Ulrich Rülke wants Germany’s centrist parties to replace the “firewall” against the AfD with clearly defined red lines. The outgoing Baden-Württemberg FDP leader said parties should be prepared to talk if the AfD moved away from positions he considers unacceptable.

“If the AfD, for example, distances itself from Mr. Höcke and its fantasies about remigration, then one can talk to it,” Rülke told the Pforzheimer Zeitung, referring to Björn Höcke, the AfD leader in Thuringia. He said the same principle should apply to the Left Party over what he described as its antisemitism and calls for expropriation.

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If the AfD, for example, distances itself from Mr. Höcke and its fantasies about remigration, then one can talk to it.

Rülke linked his position to the result of Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt. If the AfD and the Left Party together won more than 50% of the vote there, he said, “a firewall to the right and to the left no longer gets us anywhere.”

He also renewed his call for a “profound restart” of the FDP, including the possibility of changing the party’s name. Rülke said the party had lost substantial public trust through its participation in the coalition government and the period immediately afterward. The FDP failed to clear the 5% threshold in the Saxony-Anhalt election.

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A firewall to the right and to the left no longer gets us anywhere.