Can the CDU work along with the BSW regardless of the firewall? | EUROtoday

Der CDU-Bundestagsabgeordnete Roderich Kiesewetter warfare so aufgebracht, dass er sich von einer Dienstreise aus dem fernen Grönland einmischte. Gemeinsam mit 40 Parteifreunden kritisierte er seinen Vorsitzenden Friedrich Merz, weil er der CDU in Sachsen und Thüringen freie Hand lässt für Kooperationen mit dem Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, dem BSW. Schon vor Wochen hatte Kiesewetter gewarnt, das BSW agiere als „verlängerter Arm des Kreml“ und wolle die Union „als Volkspartei aushöhlen“.

Jetzt geht er noch weiter und erklärt, was der von ihm und anderen geforderte Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss gegen den BSW bedeuten würde: „Man muss nicht um jeden Preis regieren wollen, jedenfalls nicht auf Kosten von Werten und politischer Orientierung“, sagte er der F.A.S. Gemeint ist: Bevor sich die CDU mit dem BSW verbünde, solle man diesen lieber mit der AfD regieren lassen, das sei offenbar der Wunsch der Ostdeutschen.

Derartige Widerreden kann Friedrich Merz gerade nicht gebrauchen. Monatelang hatten seine Strategen den Wahlen im Osten entgegengefiebert: Sie galten als letztes mögliches Hindernis für Merz’ Weg zur Kanzlerkandidatur. Noch am Montag hatte Merz versichert, eine „Zerreißprobe“ werde der Union allenfalls „von den Medien angedichtet“.

The next day it became clear: it is not that simple. Even if the CDU is not about to burst, there is unmistakable unrest in the belly of the party. Those around North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst are aware of the Berlin party leader's uncertainties, such as his untrue statement that the word firewall has “never been part of our language”. Depending on how the government formation in Erfurt and Dresden goes, “turmoil” is to be expected, predicts people in Düsseldorf. “There will be a debate.”

With its incompatibility resolutions against the AfD and the Left Party – made under Angela Merkel – the CDU has become entangled in contradictions that are difficult to resolve. In 2018 (and even when the resolutions were confirmed in 2020), it was not foreseeable that the AfD would become the strongest party in some federal states, nor that the Left Party politician Wagenknecht would successfully split off and form her own party.

Now there are questions that can no longer be answered without contortions: Why does the CDU ostracize the Left, but sound out the left-populist BSW, which also speaks out against CDU core values ​​such as Western ties? And why is the CDU closer in terms of content to a former Stalinist than to the right-wing nationalist AfD? For Kiesewetter, both should be isolated equally: “The AfD is no better or worse than the BSW. Both are children of the same Russian mother.”

The discontent and confusion are particularly great at the epicenter of the events. Saxony has “walled itself in politically,” says Ralf Hänsel, the district administrator of Meissen: the AfD on the right, the BSW on the left and right, and the CDU squeezed in between. Squeezed in, or, as an influential Christian Democrat from East Saxony believes, already “with one foot over the abyss.”

There are two realities in individuals's minds, relying on who you speak to. In Dresden, optimism is spreading. Now they're going to have a good time a bit of, stated Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer on election evening, clearly relieved by the end result. On Monday, the state government committee met and gave the order to speak to everybody besides the AfD and the Left. The get together management tried to convey unity, they are saying, the tenor: Even if it hurts, we will't get previous the BSW. It is wise to have “non-binding talks”, says Dresden MP Markus Reichel, who’s by the way fairly aggravated by Kiesewetter's feedback. “We can assess the situation here in Saxony very well on the ground, we don't need unsolicited help from outside.”

The different actuality has been obvious since Monday, within the conferences of the CDU district government committees. Many individuals indignantly rejected a coalition with the BSW. “Some have said clearly: If you do that, we're gone,” says one CDU man. If the get together government hopes that the bottom will swallow a coalition with Wagenknecht, they’re mistaken. Other CDU individuals additionally know members who’re threatening to go away in the event that they work with the “old communists.” Some even converse of a “revolt.”

No one within the Saxon CDU denies that the dilemma is nice: a coalition with the AfD, which presents itself as extra bourgeois in Saxony than in Thuringia however is not any much less right-wing extremist, is successfully out of the query. Even if some converse of “a few individual votes” and others of “a significant number of officials” who would haven’t any drawback with a coalition, the “firewall” is in place.

But the BSW is hardly extra sympathetic to many CDU individuals, not at the same time as an emergency answer in opposition to the AfD. The “bourgeois” look of the BSW shouldn’t be trusted, says the previous CDU state parliament vp Andrea Dombois: she is aware of this type of habits from the GDR. Others who nonetheless have Wagenknecht's communist tirades of their ears additionally assume that the BSW is simply the subsequent pores and skin change of the SED. Like the Meißen district administrator Hänsel, they’re calling for the incompatibility decision to be prolonged to Wagenknecht's troops.

Hänsel is in opposition to a coalition with the AfD, however he thinks that the CDU has extra in frequent with them by way of content material than with the SPD and BSW. An alliance with the 2 left-wing events could be “again just a compromise solution”. Instead of a “blackberry” coalition, Hänsel would favor a minority authorities – even on the value of the CDU being tolerated by the BSW and AfD. He thinks that might be a great way to check the reliability of the BSW. Elsewhere, too, the bottom sympathizes with a tolerance that Kretschmer has up to now rejected. That won’t occur with him, he stated on Thursday. Some within the Saxon CDU reply behind closed doorways: Then possibly in some unspecified time in the future with out him.

Of course, a minority authorities is just not with out dangers. The district administrator of the Saxon Switzerland/Eastern Ore Mountains district, Michael Geisler, admits this. The AfD might make Kretschmer wait within the election of the prime minister, after which he would enter the federal government already weakened. Nevertheless, Geisler believes that toleration could be the most effective factor, additionally as a result of the AfD could be held “responsible”. In the municipalities, “sensible proposals” from the get together would even be “honestly discussed” as a result of in any other case they’d not be capable to act. Geisler says that there’s a “huge right-wing conservative majority” in Saxony. “It would be a slap in the face of the voters if we formed a center-left government again anyway. Then the AfD would win an absolute majority in five years.”

Even on the CDU base in Thuringia, that is unimaginable for a lot of: sitting down on the similar desk with former and never so former communists from the BSW. But if Thuringia is to turn into governable, they are saying, they’ve to speak to them. Some wish to see the nice facet: “The BSW is closer to us on issues of migration policy or education policy than the Left Party,” says the district chairman and district administrator from the Wartburg district, Michael Brodführer.

Some additionally wish to speak to AfD individuals, throughout the firewall. In a video convention with the district chairmen, the state government board reiterated its place that it could not kind a coalition with the AfD underneath any circumstances. There shouldn’t even be unfastened discussions. In on a regular basis parliamentary life, nevertheless, will probably be needed to speak to the AfD, stated members within the FAS convention. Two district chairmen identified that, out of respect for the voters, an invite from the AfD to speak shouldn’t be categorically dominated out.

District chairman Brodführer is a kind of who see issues in a different way: “If you don't want to form a government with the AfD, there's no need for exploratory or introductory talks.” He expects {that a} majority of CDU district chairmen will assist the road taken by chairman Mario Voigt. At the grassroots stage, nevertheless, there’s a fixed concern that the AfD will solely turn into stronger whether it is ignored. After all, nearly 33 p.c voted for the AfD. State parliament member Martina Schweinsburg sees it this fashion: “Entering into talks doesn't mean that you want to form a coalition.” Among the CDU state parliament members, the previous district administrator from Greiz is the one one to say this publicly. Several CDU district chairmen are simply as open to introductory talks with the AfD. But they’ve one situation: they won’t sit down on the similar desk with Björn Höcke.

But you must speak to somebody. That's why the Berlin energy middle is engaged on arguments in order that at the least Wagenknecht can do this. Although the BSW has an election program and its namesake has lengthy been identified, the brand new get together is known as a “black box” or, as Merz joked, a “red box”. “We know too little about the BSW,” says Merz's confidant Thorsten Frei. This is meant to elucidate why the get together is handled in a different way than the AfD and the Left. Another argument is nearly ethical in nature: As the “last bastion of the political center,” the Union has a particular accountability, says Frei. In this “incredibly difficult situation,” the CDU deserves assist moderately than criticism. Taking choices off the desk now, i.e. declaring the BSW untouchable, could be silly.

CDU politicians should not significantly considering stabbing Merz within the again so shortly earlier than the query of who would be the chancellor and one yr earlier than the federal election. Kiesewetter additionally doesn’t need his initiative to be seen as a insurrection. Only “concerned voices” have been raised, he says, stressing that he “clearly sees Merz as a candidate for chancellor.” But even opponents of the CDU chairman inside the get together categorical understanding. Many don’t wish to weaken Merz within the face of Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, who continues to be ready for his probability.

Even if Merz survives the formation of a authorities within the East unscathed, the firewall is prone to observe him. Brandenburg will vote on September twenty second, and the entire nation in a yr. In the mental hinterland of the get together, some are fearful that the CDU is now “paying the price for abandoning its strategy.” Making offers with far-left events damages credibility and strengthens the AfD, say conservatives. It could be wiser if Merz didn’t rule out cooperation throughout the board, however moderately outlined substantive boundaries. But the time might be not but ripe for this strategic flexibility.