(Politico) German conservatives’ determination not to play ball with the far right is ebbing away.
Friedrich Merz, favorite to be chancellor after next month’s election, signaled he’d try to push tougher migration measures through parliament even if passage depends on the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — a taboo-busting move that shows how the tectonic plates of the country’s political system are steadily shifting.
Alice Weidel, chancellor candidate for the AfD, which now sits in second place in polls, was jubilant. “The firewall has fallen!” she wrote on X. “That is good news for our country!”
Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said it would introduce the tougher migration measures even “if only the AfD supports our proposals,” according to a message from the party’s parliamentary leadership to rank-and-file members seen by POLITICO.
