The former Left Party has already offered itself to the CDU
Merz shoots against Wagenknecht party
December 27, 2023, 10:55 a.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Even before her party was founded, Sahra Wagenknecht offered the CDU to form government alliances. While not everyone in the eastern regional associations is ruling this out, federal politicians are outraged. Friedrich Merz is now making it clear once again what he thinks of the ex-left group.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz sharply attacked Sahra Wagenknecht and her yet-to-be-founded party. The Union will say to voters: “Take a close look at this. Nobody needs this mixture of socialism and nationalism in this country,” said the Union parliamentary group leader. Merz added: “There is a wide range of political offerings among the established parties, including us, the Union of CDU and CSU. There is no gap.”
“We must ensure in the political center of this country that the extremes do not become even stronger,” appealed Merz. He also hopes for such an effect “from a clearer political contour of the CDU,” he emphasized with a view to the draft of the new CDU basic program, which is to be decided at a meeting of the CDU executive board in January as a template for a federal party conference in May .
It is currently difficult to estimate how big the vote potential of the former left-wing politician’s new “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” is, said Merz. According to an initial analysis by the CDU, the potential is “definitely 10 percent. A small part of this potentially comes at the expense of the Union.” It is also possible that AfD voters switched to the Wagenknecht party camp. How many is difficult to say.
The long-time left-wing politician Wagenknecht left the party with nine members of the Bundestag in the fall in order to found a competing project. The “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht,” initially organized as an association, is set to formally become a party on January 8th.
Worry about AfD success
With a view to 2024 with a European election and nine local elections on June 9th as well as three state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September that were difficult due to high AfD poll numbers, Merz said: “It is important for us that we have a voter potential of around 40 percent. We will only be able to exploit this under the best and most favorable conditions.”
The Union must become so strong in the federal election that it cannot govern without or against it. “This goal is achievable, despite the competition we see on the far left and far right at the moment.” The Union is currently polling between 31 and 34 percent.
When asked how worried he was that after the elections in the east in the fall nothing would be possible without the AfD in forming a government, the CDU chairman said: “That is indeed a particularly big challenge.” But he is confident “that we will succeed in becoming the strongest parliamentary group in the state parliaments in all three countries.” He will also be very personally involved in the election campaigns and will also tell people: Think carefully about what you do. Because every vote for the AfD is a vote for a left-wing government.”
No cooperation with AfD and Left Party
Merz reminded that his party’s incompatibility decision with the AfD as well as the Left Party still applies. “We will emphasize once again and make it clear that we do not have any cooperation with the AfD. This applies to all countries in Germany.” With regard to the AfD and the Left Party, Merz emphasized: “It is completely unthinkable that we work with these parties.” Whether the CDU has to formally decide on this again is another question. “We cannot and should not upgrade these parties without necessity.”
In Thuringia, the local CDU is currently tolerating a minority government led by the Left Party and Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow. If the Christian Democrats do not want to form a coalition with both the AfD and the Left Party after the next election, the federal state may face a standstill. Survey results recently saw the AfD at around 34 percent, the CDU and Left Party at around 20 percent. All other parties came in behind.
Sahra Wagenknecht, who has not yet founded her party, had already shown herself open to alliances with the CDU at the state level, which led to controversy. In some cases, party representatives in the East were not fundamentally opposed to this, but federal politicians were.
Warning about “reminders”
After right-wing populist Geert Wilders’ election victory in the Netherlands in November, Merz said he looked closely at what happened there. Foreigners, asylum and immigration were the main topics there. In addition, a liberal-conservative party has not ruled out working with Wilders. “The result is that this party became by far the strongest party in the Dutch parliament. We will not repeat these mistakes here,” promised the CDU leader. “I hope that we don’t have to talk about this issue too much in the election campaigns.”
With a view to June 9th, Merz warned that “European Parliament elections are always susceptible to reminders.” It is the job of politicians to explain the importance of these elections to the population. “This is the parliament for all of Europe, which makes important decisions about domestic policy, foreign policy, economic policy and internal market policy.” He will do everything to “dispel the impression that one could easily miss a lesson here without consequences. Such a lesson would have consequences.”