Berlin. Before a CDU presidential meeting to deal with the recent electoral failures, the future course towards the AfD is becoming the focus of the debates in the Union, alongside social issues. The CSU politician Manfred Weber and individual CDU MPs criticized the concept of a “firewall”. Leading CDU politicians, however, defended the sharp political demarcation from the AfD.
The presidium with party leader and Chancellor Friedrich Merz will meet on Sunday and Monday to analyze the causes of the September election failures and derive consequences from them. In particular, people's everyday problems should be given more attention.
The Saxon CDU member of the Bundestag Florian Oest told “Welt am Sonntag”: “The rigid incompatibility decisions are not moving us forward.” He cited, among other things, the Christian view of humanity and the social market economy as guidelines. “If you have this inner compass, you don’t orientate yourself on others.”
In an interview, Weber called for the sharp political demarcation between the AfD and the AfD to be softened. “The firewall in the sense of 'them or us' must be history,” said the group leader of the European People's Party in the European Parliament to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The previous firewall concept had failed, as can be seen most clearly in France, he said. Although President Emmanuel Macron has said “Le Pen or me” for years, it is not unlikely that he will have to hand over the keys to the Élysée Palace to the right-wing extremist Marine Le Pen.
“It is a huge burden for us as a Union in the long term if we constantly vote with left-wing parties in the state parliaments where we have minority governments, Thuringia and Saxony, and thus pursue even more left-wing politics,” said Weber. Conversely, the AfD puts the CDU's content up for vote, but the CDU is forced to vote against it.
With a view to Saxony-Anhalt, Weber said that AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund must first come into office. But: “We have to get out of the pure rejection discussion (...). If we really talk about content, we will disenchant the AfD.” At the same time, Weber said that because of her views, the AfD was not just a political opponent, but “our political enemy.”
The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament member Guido Heuer told “Welt am Sonntag”: “We have walled ourselves in with the fire wall, but behind it the fire continues.” Instead, content-related red lines should be defined. However, he believes coalitions with the AfD or the Left are out of the question.
The CSU chairman Markus Söder recently said on the ARD program “Maischberger”: “Just saying: firewall, firewall, firewall - that won’t work.” Instead, you have to go into duels more and address content.
According to “Welt am Sonntag”, parliamentary group vice-president Günter Krings (CDU) sees no reason to soften the situation: “I consider the thesis that the AfD would not have grown without our incompatibility decision to be daring.” The deputy CDU chairwoman Karin Prien also insists on a strong demarcation between her party and the AfD. The CDU has a very clear decision that categorically excludes cooperation with the AfD and the Left and everyone will have to stick to it, Prien told Bayerischer Rundfunk. “Otherwise it will be the CDU and the Union will no longer exist in this form in the long term.”
Before the CDU presidential retreat, Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) told "Welt am Sonntag": "We have to take care of all the issues that are important for normal people: cost of living, security, migration, jobs." The Union must not prevent debates on these issues, but must discuss them in the democratic center. “Otherwise it happens at the extreme edges.”
CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann made it clear that there is no single solution to the party's problems. “This retreat should be about one thing above all: the signal from the latest election results has reached us,” Hoppermann told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “It must be clear to all of us that this exam is not a silver bullet that will magically eliminate all problems overnight.”
Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt expects a new start in terms of content. “We have to talk about how life can become affordable again for people,” said the CDU politician to the German Press Agency in Erfurt. He mentioned heating, filling up the tank and shopping. “I sense a deep longing on the part of the base for the CDU to once again clearly formulate what it stands for,” Voigt continued. The CDU does not claim to be “the second strongest force in Germany”. The AfD is clearly ahead in surveys nationwide.
