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The "firewall" deal/ Merkel's criticism of her party exposes the division of German conservatives

2025-01-30 23:40:11Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The "firewall" deal/ Merkel's criticism of her party exposes the
Angela Merkel

Chris Lunday - Politico

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has publicly condemned her party leader, Friedrich Merz, after the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for the first time relied on far-right votes to pass an anti-immigration motion in parliament.

The deal broke a long-standing commitment to isolate the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is in second place ahead of German elections on February 23.

Merkel's rare intervention, first reported by German magazine Stern, exposes an internal rift within the conservative CDU over how to deal with the growing influence of the AfD.

"I consider it wrong to abandon this commitment and, as a result, to consciously allow for a majority with AfD votes in the Bundestag for the first time," Merkel said in a statement on what Germans refer to as the "firewall" intended to keep out the AfD.

Merkel referred to an agreement Merz made in November 2024, when he explicitly pledged to prevent the AfD from playing a decisive role in the Bundestag elections. “This proposal and the position associated with it was an expression of great state political responsibility, which I fully support in its entirety,” she added.

POLITICO contacted Merz's team, who declined to comment on the matter.

Merz and Merkel have been at odds within the CDU since at least 2002, when Merkel ousted him from the party leadership. Since Merz's return in 2022, he has shifted the party significantly to the right, in many ways undoing Merkel's centrist legacy, particularly when it comes to the issue of migration.

The CDU has consolidated around Merz, and criticism among current leaders about his willingness to accept far-right support for anti-immigration measures has been relatively muted. Merkel's intervention is unlikely to halt her party's rightward shift on migration, but it could spark an internal debate about the conservatives' role in weakening the firewall around the far right.

The debate over the firewall erupted this week after the CDU introduced a proposal to reject asylum seekers at the border.

Although non-binding, the Bundestag vote marked the first time the CDU relied on AfD votes to push a motion, a symbolic break with Merkel's centrist legacy and the party's long-standing refusal to work with the far right.

For the AfD, the vote was a watershed moment. “A new era is beginning now,” declared Bernd Baumann, a senior AfD lawmaker. The party has seized on the moment as evidence that its hardline stance on migration is gaining general legitimacy.

Hungarian right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also attended, celebrating Germany's tough immigration crackdown.

The "firewall" deal/ Merkel's criticism of her party exposes the
Pre-election polls in Germany, AfD clearly in second place and growing

“Guten Morgen, Deutschland! Welcome to the club!” Orbán wrote in a post on X.

“Good morning Hungary!” Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for chancellor, replied. “I’m glad to be part of your club!”

Within Germany, a center-left backlash against Merz has been swift.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) accused the CDU leader of undermining his "credibility," while demonstrators gathered outside the CDU headquarters on Tuesday night, demanding a stronger commitment to keeping the far right out of power.

Merz now faces a potential leadership crisis. While he has not openly endorsed working with the AfD, critics argue that his rhetoric on migration and his failure to prevent CDU lawmakers from accepting far-right support have blurred the party's red lines.

Merkel's intervention makes his position even more precarious. Although she resigned as CDU leader in 2018 and left the chancellorship in 2021, Merkel remains an influential figure within the party among moderates who see her as a defender of the CDU's centrist course.

With just weeks until the federal election, the fallout from the vote has further polarized the race. Merz now faces a choice: double down on his shift to the right or try to restore the CDU's firewall against the AfD, a decision that could determine his political future.


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