Saxony-Anhalt election: Strobl warns CDU over AfD ties, saying it would no longer be his party

Thomas Strobl has issued one of the CDU’s sharpest warnings against working with the AfD before Saxony-Anhalt’s state election: if such cooperation happens, he said, the CDU would no longer be his party.

The former Baden-Württemberg interior minister and current state parliament president rejected any coalition, formal cooperation or tolerance arrangement with the AfD at federal or state level. When asked to clarify his position in the state parliament, Strobl said he meant it seriously.

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Cooperation with the AfD at federal or state level, whether a coalition, cooperation or tolerance arrangement, must not happen.

He tied his opposition to the CDU’s historical identity, saying the party had been built on the ruins of the Second World War and the destruction left by the Nazis. Strobl did not say he would leave the CDU. He also argued that the separation should apply at the municipal level, where the two parties should not submit joint motions or make agreements.

At the same time, Strobl drew a distinction over individual issues. The CDU should not withdraw a sound policy proposal merely because the AfD also votes for it, he said. Otherwise, he argued, the CDU would make itself dependent on the AfD.

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Then it is no longer my party.

Former CDU parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder also opposed testing cooperation with the far-right party. “We must learn from history and not let ourselves be deceived,” he said, according to Table.Briefings. Kauder added that he was alarmed to hear people say the CDU should simply try working with the AfD. “The firewall must hold,” he said. “Otherwise the CDU is finished.”

The election takes place on Sunday. Recent polls put the AfD clearly ahead of the CDU, while the strength of smaller parties suggests that forming a government could prove complicated.

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The firewall must hold. Otherwise the CDU is finished.