North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul described the AfD because the “biggest threat to democracy”. His Thuringian counterpart Georg Maier shares this view. The Union should defend democracy towards authoritarian tendencies.
According to the Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD), the Union has an necessary position to play in defending democracy. “When it comes to defending our democracy against authoritarian currents, it will be the Union that counts,” stated the 49-year-old to the “Handelsblatt”.
Maier was reacting to the announcement by his North Rhine-Westphalian counterpart Herbert Reul (CDU) that he would draw private penalties if his get together thought of working with the AfD. “If my party thinks we have to rethink this, then I’m gone,” Reul informed the information portal “t-online”. “This force and its thinking are the greatest danger to democracy. There can only be one thing against it.”
Maier praised this perspective. “I appreciate Herbert Reul as an upright democrat and conservative with a clear compass. His principled stance towards the AfD is exemplary,” Maier informed the “Handelsblatt”. He is completely happy that Thuringian Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) additionally has a transparent place on the problem. “We in the state government agree that there should be no cooperation with the AfD.”
Voigt rejects collaboration with the AfD, however distances himself from the time period “firewall”. When his CDU was nonetheless in opposition in Thuringia, the CDU parliamentary group within the Thuringian state parliament pushed by way of a number of legal guidelines with the assistance of AfD votes. In 2023, a discount in property switch tax initiated by the CDU and handed with the assistance of the AfD triggered outrage nationwide. The Thuringian SPD at all times rejected majorities with AfD votes.
A number of weeks in the past, Voigt known as on his get together to deal extra confidently with the AfD. “The CDU has to straighten its back,” he stated in November. “We provide the chancellor, we have eight prime ministers, a third of the mayors, two thirds of the district administrators. The Union determines the course of this country.” The CDU should say confidently: “We are the determining force – and don’t let the discussion constantly revolve around the AfD.”
dpa/gub
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article694bd376f6fc544dba9b2da2/thueringens-innenminister-stimmt-herbert-reul-zu-keine-zusammenarbeit-mit-der-afd.html