Voigt on “Hard but fair”
Thuringia’s CDU leader: “No coalition with AfD”
By Marko Schlichting
February 6, 2024, 3:25 a.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Thuringia’s CDU top candidate Mario Voigt is ruling out a coalition with the AfD after the state elections in his state. The politician explains this in the ARD program “Hart aber fair”, in which the guests deal with the politics of the right-wing extremist party.
After the state elections in his state, the Thuringian CDU top candidate Mario Voigt is ruling out a coalition and cooperation with the partly right-wing extremist AfD. He is fighting for the democratic center, says the chairman of the Thuringia CDU state association in the ARD talk show “Hart aber fair”. “I want there to be a policy change,” said the politician. “Red-red-green has gone awry. You notice that at the traffic lights, you notice that in Erfurt. But actually: When there is a change in politics, you need someone with decency and common sense.” Voigt says he is trying to rule out an election as Prime Minister by the AfD.
A new state parliament will be elected in Thuringia in September. According to current surveys, the AfD could become the strongest party in the eastern German state, but fall short of an absolute majority. The CDU is in second place there. To take over government in Thuringia, she would need a coalition partner. Voigt doesn’t say who that could be.
“Hard but fair” is primarily about the question of how the success of the AfD could be curbed. There is no answer to that. Nevertheless, moderator Louis Klamroth and his guests make a real effort to deal with the politics of the AfD.
Discussion about the AfD ban
A ban on the AfD has been discussed in politics for weeks. Opinions on the show are divided. Actress Collien Ulmen-Fernandes, for example, suggests first formulating an application for a ban so that there is a basis for discussion.
Mario Voigt is against a ban on the AfD. “The substantive debate with the AfD is promising,” says the politician, who, however, has to be told by the Green Bundestag member Lamya Kaddor: “Then you could have scored points if you had made better policies against the AfD. But that shows yes not on your account.” However, it is also true that, according to surveys, the Greens are on the way down in the federal government and in Thuringia.
Voigt then takes up some of the AfD’s points. For example, the party wants to abolish subsidies, including for farmers. And she wants Germany to leave the EU. “I’m experiencing this now in the Thuringian state parliament and hearing what they’re saying. You really have to dismantle the nonsense. It works.” The current federal government is primarily to blame for the AfD’s success, says Voigt. “Many people tell me that we don’t want to vote for right-wing extremists, but we want this left-green politics to come to an end, where there is more and more paternalism and pressure.”
AfD politician Holm: It will backfire
AfD member of the Bundestag Leif-Erik Holm is not afraid of a possible ban. “It will backfire,” he says at Hart but Fair. “We are a party that supports the state through and through. We want responsibility. We want to take over the government.” The AfD stands on the basis of the Basic Law, says Holm, and demands: “Read our program.”
However, the question arises as to which one. During the course of the program, Klamroth speaks to the AfD politician about his party’s demand for a Dexit, i.e. Germany’s exit from the EU. The AfD is for that, but only as a last resort, says Holm. First the EU must be reformed. Klamroth adds that this is not in the program for the EU elections next June. In fact, it literally says: “We believe the EU cannot be reformed and see it as a failed project.” In this case, the AfD party program applies, not the program for the EU elections decided in Magdeburg last year, Holm suggests.
The migration debate
After a meeting in Potsdam became known, at which a plan for the mass deportation of refugees, including German citizens, was discussed, hundreds of thousands of people have been demonstrating against the AfD for weeks. The migration debate is also a topic at “Hard but Fair”.
Holm explains: “We want to repatriate foreigners, but we want to do so in a legally secure manner. There are a lot of people who have immigrated to us and who don’t have the right to reside here. That’s what it’s about.” The Union also wants to repatriate people who have no right to remain in Germany, says Voigt, and then with a view to Holm: “But what you are saying is that people who are German citizens should be repatriated if they are not assimilated .” Lamya Kaddor adds: “If you didn’t think like that, you would automatically have to stand in front of people like me. But you don’t.”
“Of course we do,” Holm replies. He later explains the AfD’s plans for the refugee issue, which, however, differ greatly from the statements of politicians such as the Thuringian AfD state leader Björn Höcke: “Every German, i.e. everyone who has a German passport, has all rights and obligations and is natural Welcome to our country. This is undisputed in the AfD.” Only people without the right to remain and those who would enter Germany illegally should be deported. “We would like to finally turn migration policy back on its feet.” “No matter how committed you are to this, I don’t believe a word you say,” counters Kaddor.