Historic victory of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: concerns and reactions in France

“Real alarm signal”, call for “general mobilization”: several presidential candidates from the left and the center expressed their serious concerns on Sunday evening after the historic victory of the AfD in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, the leaders of the National Rally, which broke in recent years with the German far-right party, not reacting immediately.

“Catastrophic demonstration of the blindness of centrist European policies. This disaster is their result. Under these conditions, the German military project to create the first conventional army in Europe is unacceptable for France,” criticized the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-migrant, Russophile and pro-Trump group, claimed a large victory in this former GDR Land, inflicting a snub on conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “This is no longer a warning. It is a general mobilization order that must be launched. The reactionary and far-right international is advancing with its face exposed,” lamented PS First Secretary Olivier Faure on X.

Zemmour evokes a “hour of truth”

Another candidate from the French left, the national secretary of the Communist Party Fabien Roussel, spoke on the same network of a “terrible record for the EU and its treaties”, calling for them to “change”. “Across Europe, the far right is gaining ground with its hate agenda. It thrives on poverty, deindustrialization, the escalation of war,” he denounced.

Also a presidential candidate, the leader of the Renaissance presidential party Gabriel Attal described this result as a “real alarm signal”, calling on BFMTV to “learn lessons” from it. He notably affirmed that “the barrier against the extreme right” could no longer be “a political project sufficient for you to have a majority of voters who come to join it”. “We need to bring a vision, concrete measures”, and “reinvent the model” to “regain control in a changing world”, he added.

The leader of the far-right Reconquest party, Éric Zemmour, spoke to him about “the moment of truth”. “We will blame the voters. The real culprits are those who, for half a century, treated as a crime what people felt was obvious: the desire to remain themselves,” explained the man who has not yet confirmed his candidacy for the presidential election.

Bardella evokes “disagreements” with the Afd

The leaders of the National Rally, favorite in the polls in France, have at this stage not reacted to the historic victory of their former partner. Asked on Saturday during the Cernobbio forum in Italy about the hypothesis of seeing the RN reconnect with the AfD in the event of a breakthrough by the first opposition party in Germany, the president of the party Jordan Bardella affirmed that this was “not planned”.

“A number of disagreements have led us to distance ourselves from the AfD,” he said. “I note, however, that the electoral pressure exerted by the AfD in Germany contributed to moving the lines within Mr. Merz's government, since Germany reestablished controls at its borders a few months ago.”