After Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) accused the AfD of wanting to carry out “ethnic cleansing” based on origin and skin color, its parliamentary manager reacted with sharp words. “The Chancellor was absolutely subterranean, coming across like a left-wing extremist let off the leash,” said AfD parliamentary group leader Stephan Brandner on the ARD talk show “Maischberger.” "So this Chancellor is completely out of his depth. Hopefully that was his final speech."
The BSW Saxony-Anhalt has accepted the invitation to talks with the AfD. “But it’s about substantive cooperation, not coalition talks,” said top candidate Claudia Wittig to the F.A.Z. The CDU also received an invitation from the AfD, but rejected the offer to talk. "We reject cooperation with the AfD Saxony-Anhalt, which the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified as definitely right-wing extremist. This letter does not change that," said the CDU in response to a query from the F.A.Z.
In the evening, a spokesperson for the BSW confirmed to the German Press Agency: "The state board of the BSW Saxony-Anhalt has unanimously decided to stay true to its line and to seek dialogue with all parties in the new state parliament," said a spokesman for the party to the German Press Agency. “At the meeting with the AfD we will discuss the topics of energy supply, education and peace policy.”
Representatives of the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left had previously rejected the AfD's offer of talks. BSW top candidate Thomas Schulze criticized these decisions. “We consider the fact that other parties are already rejecting the conversation itself to be bad political behavior and not a good sign for the democratic culture in our country.”
Forming a government in Saxony-Anhalt after the state elections is complicated. The AfD received by far the most votes, but missed out on a sole government. Before the election, all other parties had ruled out a coalition with the AfD. Nevertheless, AfD General Secretary Tobias Rausch announced that he would like to invite all parties represented in the state parliament to exploratory talks.
The CDU is represented in the new state parliament by 15 members. The SPD, the Left and the Greens each have 8 seats; the BSW entered the state parliament in Magdeburg for the first time with 5 representatives. The AfD won 39 of the total 83 mandates. This means she is three votes short of an absolute majority.
After the AfD's success in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU social wing urged the coalition to provide citizens with significantly more relief in the planned tax reform than previously planned. “Unfortunately, the plans fall far short of what would be necessary to relieve the burden on citizens and companies,” said the chairman of the Christian Democratic Workers’ Association (CDA), Dennis Radtke, to the “Rheinische Post” on Thursday. “At least the cold progression should be balanced out in 2027, just as every other federal government has managed to do in recent years.”
Cold progression means “expropriation of citizens through the back door,” Radtke explained, warning: “We don’t just need microscopic relief, which can only be guessed at at best.”
To provide counter-financing, he called for a bolder reduction in financial aid and foregoing the higher mother's pension. He is convinced that “there is still much more to be gained from federal subsidies and financial aid.”
According to a newspaper report, resistance to the federal government's tax plans is forming in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. Around 20 members of the Union did not want to agree to the plans, the “Bild” newspaper reported in advance, citing faction circles. On Tuesday, all twelve members of the Agriculture Working Group spoke out against the planned introduction of a sugar tax. The reason given was that tax increases had been excluded in the coalition agreement. There is also criticism in the finance working group. Numerous members refused to only partially reduce the so-called cold progression in the coming year and called for full compensation.
According to the report, CSU financial politician Florian Dorn described the previous plans to reform income tax as “embarrassing and too puny”. His CDU colleague Olav Gutting declared at the meeting: “I’m not going to take part in this anymore.” In addition, numerous budget politicians from the Union faction criticized the tax plans as not sufficient.
The CDU budget politician Andreas Mattfeldt accused Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil of looking for new sources of money despite rising income. This creates questionable constructs such as the sugar tax, which, among other things, should also affect drinks with sweeteners, Mattfeldt told the newspaper.
After breaking with the Wagenknecht party, former BSW state leader Katja Wolf highlighted differences in her new party. The core content continues to be based on reason and justice as well as peace, said Wolf in the MDR program “Fakt ist!”. When it comes to peace, however, there was a double standard at the BSW. "Anyone who criticizes Ukraine for corruption or something similar must criticize Russia with at least the same severity. Anyone who criticizes Israel must criticize Hamas with at least the same severity," she said.
Wolf also ruled out cooperation with the AfD. "We started with the clear statement: No cooperation with the AfD. A contentious dispute, but no cooperation. We stuck to this basic consensus," she said.
Berlin's SPD top candidate Steffen Krach is fully committed to the election campaign for the House of Representatives despite the allegations against him. “I will continue to campaign here in Berlin over the next eleven days,” said the Berlin SPD leader to the RBB. “The Hanover public prosecutor’s office must now say what specific allegations there are against me.”
The public prosecutor's office began investigations against the SPD's top candidate a week and a half before the election. According to the authorities, three properties in Hanover and Berlin were searched in this context. She did not comment on specific allegations. Krach said the accusation relates to a procurement process for a clinic sale in the Hanover region, where he is on leave as regional president.
“The accusation apparently from the Hanover public prosecutor’s office is that I allowed myself to be bribed,” he told RBB. “I have not accepted any donations either privately or for my party here in Berlin.” On a later occasion he mentioned a donation from the losing bidder of 9,500 euros, which was transferred back within 24 hours.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has expressed skepticism about the chances of success of a possible AfD ban procedure. “We are welcome to check this again and again, but from my point of view it is a very high hurdle,” said the CDU chairman at a joint press conference with EU Council President António Costa in Berlin. “Incidentally, I don’t believe that banning this party will solve the problem that the voters of this party see in Germany.”
Merz therefore spoke out in favor of a political debate with the AfD, which had just won the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt with a landslide of 43.8 percent. One must try to win back voters for the political center - including the CDU - and make them a convincing political offer.
After the AfD's election victory, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst called for the party to be audited by a group consisting of experts from the federal and state governments as well as constitutional lawyers and officials from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. “The overall question is how the state deals constitutionally with a party that pursues anti-constitutional goals, at least in individual federal states.” The examination must be open-ended and must not automatically lead to a ban procedure.
The Hesse Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) and the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) have already expressed skepticism about this. The SPD and the Greens are in favor of considering a ban on this. The AfD is classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in several federal states - including Saxony-Anhalt.
After a series of sabotage attacks on the power grid in several federal states, the 48-year-old suspect was arrested. “The arrest warrant has been issued and the accused is being remanded in custody,” said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Cottbus. The public prosecutor's office accuses him, among other things, of causing an explosive explosion, disrupting public operations and destroying important work equipment.
In the future, the suspect will be taken to the Cottbus correctional facility, said the spokesman for the public prosecutor's office. It is not yet clear when he will be moved there. This is usually organized in collective transport, said the spokesman. The suspect is currently still with the police in Aachen and will then be taken to a correctional facility nearby.
The wanted man was noticed by police officers on Tuesday during a major operation near the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen. They arrested him. Investigators believe the suspect attempted to sabotage power lines near coal-fired power plants in several locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony - in some cases he succeeded. According to the investigation, the man is said to have set up launchers in several locations and shot a wire over high-voltage lines with self-made rockets. This resulted in short circuits at least twice and individual units of nearby power plants were brought to a standstill.
The German Union of Journalists (dju) within the Verdi union documented attacks on media workers on an “unprecedented scale” in the Saxony-Anhalt state election campaign. Since May, 46 cases of attacks, intimidation and massive obstructions have been counted, the union announced on Wednesday in Leipzig. These included seven physical attacks, acts of violence and threats.
It was said that the “systematic media hostility” reached its “temporary climax” on the election weekend and at the AfD election party on Sunday in Magdeburg. According to Verdi, numerous international media outlets were denied accreditation by the AfD, which was classified as right-wing extremist in the state.
The union complained that the police did not adequately protect media workers from attempts at intimidation at this election party. The deputy Verdi regional department head Lucas Munzke explained that in Saxony-Anhalt the “systematic attempt to suppress critical public opinion” had been observed. As a result of the attacks, the union demanded, among other things, consistent protection of press areas. She also called for the crimes to be punished by law enforcement authorities “with high priority.”
