Handelsblatt: CDU could work with AfD in Thuringia

In Thuringia, another effort is underway to work with the AfD. The CDU introduced a bill there in which the red-red-green minority government (SPD, Linke, Greens) does not want to agree. However, support comes from the opposition AfD and FDP factions. The majority of the three parties will vote together for the first time on a bill.

The vote is scheduled for next week. The CDU wants to stipulate that in the future wind turbines will be able to be only 1000 meters away from residential areas. A similar law applies, among others, in Bavaria. With the help of the CDU and the AfD, Thomas Kemmerich (FDP) was elected Prime Minister of Thuringia in 2020, but resigned shortly afterwards.

That’s why CDU leader Friedrich Mertz is now called upon to set foot. SPD general secretary Kevin Connert warned the CDU in Thuringia not to cooperate with the AfD. “Leadership in the CDU is needed now, because the power of party leader Friedrich Mertz is also being challenged in the parliament of the state of Erfurt,” Kühnert told Der Spiegel.

A law against the votes of the red-red-green government (SPD, Linke, Greens) minority would be “a legislative majority thanks to Höcke”, Kühnert explained, referring to the head of the AfD in the state and the parliamentary group B Höcke: “It has never happened before and it should not happen again.”

Apparently, he said, the CDU is of the opinion that in its interaction with the AfD, the exclusion zone only begins with joint coalitions. “Anyone who argues like that has learned nothing.” The CDU now has a few days to “rid the free state of Thuringia of a bad service”.