CDU leader Friedrich Merz has warned against using the state elections in Thuringia in September as a “reminder election” for politics in Berlin. If the AfD and its state chairman Björn Höcke came to government, it would be “a shame for Thuringia, but above all it would be a shame for Germany,” said Merz at the CDU’s political Ash Wednesday in Apolda, Thuringia, on Wednesday evening. He won't allow this.
He didn't want Thuringia to become famous “across Europe, perhaps worldwide, because nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia in one person suddenly dominate the politics of an entire federal state,” said Merz. The AfD “does not only stand for economic decline, but above all for moral decline.”
The AfD is far ahead in the polls in Thuringia, which was previously governed by a coalition of the Left Party, the SPD and the Greens. In surveys from this year, it got values between 31 and 36 percent, with the CDU in second place with 20 percent.
Criticism of economic and immigration policy
At the Ash Wednesday event, Merz simultaneously attacked the politics of the traffic light parties in the federal government and particularly questioned the government's economic competence. “We have the biggest shortage of skilled workers in the Federal Republic of Germany on the German government bench,” he said to applause from around 1,200 guests.
Merz also didn't give a damn about the traffic light's immigration policy: it was “a catastrophe,” he said. “We want people to come to us who work here and who live here – but in that order (…) and not the other way around.” There should be no immigration into the social systems.
Merz reiterates openness to an alliance with the Greens
Merz then also took aim at the role of the FDP, which is constantly at odds with the Greens, and its party leader Christian Lindner. “We don’t need two opposition leaders in Germany: one in the government and one in parliament,” said the CDU leader. “The FDP will have to decide: if it stays in, it will be out next time. If she goes out, she has a small chance of surviving.”
At the same time, Merz reiterated his controversial statement that he also sees an alliance with the Greens as an option after the next federal election. Because there were “perhaps three options” left for the CDU as a coalition partner, he said. The FDP would be his “favorite”. If the Liberals no longer made it into parliament, the SPD and the Greens remained. Merz received boos here because of the Greens, but stood firm and said: “We will do a damn thing to close off all options and thus take away any room for maneuver.”
#State #election #Thuringia #Merz #Höcke #government #disgrace #Germany
