Former Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) considers the previous strategy towards the AfD to have failed and is calling for a radical change of course in dealing with the party. “The exclusion strategy towards the AfD was a mistake,” Friedrich told “Bild”. "It would have been right to force the AfD to take responsibility and let it show its colors in everyday political life. Then the party would have had to show its true colors much earlier," he said.
He also argued that the “firewall” – i.e. the demarcation between the Union and the AfD – had held the different political currents within the AfD together. “There are also conflicting currents in the AfD, from disappointed former Union members to national conservative socialists and right-wing extremists,” said the CSU politician. “This mixture was sealed airtight by the firewall instead of letting it ferment happily.”
Friedrich said: “You only recognize the true character of a party when it is responsible.” So far, the AfD has been “just a projection surface for a lot of things,” said Friedrich, who was Federal Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2013.
Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt has sharply criticized his party after the CDU's election defeats. The Union has always claimed to govern sensibly and to bring different social groups together, he told the “Handelsblatt”. “Today we unfortunately have to say: we have failed because of our own demands.” He would also like to see this effort for cohesion at the federal level.
Just days after the election, changes are already becoming apparent in a possible new cabinet of Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig. Education Minister Simone Oldenburg (Left), Science Minister Bettina Martin (SPD) and State Chancellor Patrick Dahlemann (SPD) announced that they would no longer be available for their positions in the new legislative period.
Martin and Dahlemann lost their constituencies to the AfD on Sunday and only entered the state parliament via the state list. The direct election result “is a hard personal turning point for me,” said Dahlemann. After such a result, he could not continue as before.
For the CDU and SPD, the results of the House of Representatives election in Berlin were sobering. The CDU lost 9.5 percent and the SPD 6.3 percent in the repeat election in 2023. Their top candidates should still lead their respective factions through the coming legislature. At the SPD, Steffen Krach and Derya Caglar were unanimously elected as parliamentary group leaders. Stefan Evers was also elected CDU parliamentary group leader with a majority of 93.75 percent.
However, the SPD demands that the Left take a clear position on the issue of anti-Semitism. “That wasn’t always just a red line, but it is still a red line for all social democrats,” said Krach.
Left-wing leading candidate Elif Eralp said that she was taking a clear position against anti-Semitism. “But these words are no longer enough,” emphasized Krach. He would be interested in what actually happened on the left after the events of the last few days and weeks.
Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) is against the left-wing Elif Eralp becoming the governing mayor in Berlin. "I can only advise my party in Berlin to refrain from forming a coalition with the Left. This party in its current state is not allowed to govern," he told the "Tagesspiegel". The Berlin Left is partly anti-Semitic and open to criminal clans and stands for a weakening of the police and justice system. “That would be a security risk for Berlin.” He nevertheless rejects calls to cut financial allocations for Berlin if necessary - arguing that this would help “the wrong people”.
Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse (SPD) warns his own party against forming a coalition with the Left in Berlin. “To bring a party into government in the German capital of all places that cannot deal with anti-Semitism in its own ranks is irresponsible,” Thierse told the “Tagesspiegel”. It is “downright adventurous” to see that the left “maintains contacts in the clan milieu and at the same time wants to weaken the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.”
After the Berlin left's known contacts with anti-Semites and clan criminals, the Green Party leadership is setting conditions for a possible coalition. “Anti-Semites or people with connections to organized crime or Islamism are not allowed to support or even shape a government,” says Green Party leader Franziska Brantner to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Left leader Elif Eralp must now take action and guarantee this.” The issue of expropriation of housing companies, which the left is calling for, could also become a sticking point. The possibility of expropriation is in the Basic Law, says Brantner. “But it is subject to tough conditions and must serve the common good.” You have to ask yourself whether it makes sense to spend billions on old housing. “That doesn’t create a new apartment.”
The SPD sub-district Frankfurt is calling for the replacement of SPD chairmen Bärbel Bas and Lars Klingbeil. “The SPD Frankfurt am Main is calling for an extraordinary federal party conference to be called in autumn 2026 to reorganize the party leadership,” says a resolution paper from which the “Tagesspiegel” quotes. Read more here.
In the dispute over the abolition of the deduction-free pension after 45 years of contributions, the CDU and SPD factions are discussing a compromise. Among other things, an increase in the required years of contributions by up to two years is being discussed, the newspaper “Bild” reported on Thursday, citing coalition circles. In this case, employees could only retire without deductions after 46 or 47 years of contributions. There is also talk of shortening the crediting of parenting periods, which is currently up to ten years per child.
In addition, a limitation of the deduction-free pension to certain professional groups is being considered, according to the report from group circles. In the future, the regulation could be limited to employees with hard physical work, such as roofers. CSU regional group leader Alexander Hoffmann told the newspaper that there was a clear agreement in the coalition according to which hardship cases should be possible, but regular cases should not. “Without a change in the rule-exception ratio for the tax-free pension after 45 years of contributions, there can be no pension reform,” he explained further.
