CDU’s firewall against the AfD is completely crazy, says CDU politician Martina Schweinsburg, who sits in the state parliament of Thuringia, just before the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, in which the AfD is set to become by far the largest party.
It was while appearing as a guest on presenter Markus Lanz’s talk show on public broadcaster ZDF on Thursday that Schweinsburg made the statement, which within the CDU is worse than swearing in church.
Friedrich Merz’s governing party has sworn that it will have nothing to do politically with Alice Weidel and company, whether at federal, regional or local level.
Schweinsburg distances herself from Merz and accuses her party of dishonesty, reports Die Welt.
She does not mince her words, using expressions such as «dishonest labelling», «madness» and «idiotic» about the CDU’s positioning against the AfD.
«I think this whole firewall is completely crazy, to put it bluntly. In practice, it is not being observed at all», said the long-serving district administrator of the Greiz district, who today represents the CDU in the state parliament of Thuringia.
In the state parliament of Thuringia, the parties regularly talk to one another to secure majorities for laws and proposals. Schweinsburg believes it is dishonest that this is often concealed behind technical terms such as a «parliamentary consultation process». «One should be honest. What sort of nonsense is this?», she said. In the municipalities, there are «no red, blue and black holes in the road». There are only problems that have to be dealt with.
The CDU also had a firewall against the far-left party Die Linke, which was justified by reference to Sahra Wagenknecht, Schweinsburg points out. But after Wagenknecht started her own party, the CDU has co-operated with her in Thuringia.
– It makes absolutely no sense, Schweinsburg concludes.
She also uses a striking metaphor about the German house: – A firewall is no use if the roof is on fire, because then the fire spreads via the roof, she points out.
In her view, the CDU’s approach is also anti-democratic:
In this context, Schweinsburg explicitly advocates holding talks with all the elected parties. Respect for the voters requires it. «When an election official approves a party and the voters put a cross next to it, those elected have the damned duty to be there for the voters and talk to one another», she said. Asked by Lanz whether this also applied to the AfD, she replied: «To everyone. I make no exceptions.»
For it is the voters who are not being heard if their elected representatives are frozen out. It is not as though all AfD voters are Nazis, she reminds us.
Over the years, many people had said: «Listen to us». And then they got the feeling that their concerns were not being taken seriously. Many people had gained the impression that «those people over there do whatever they want anyway». But anyone who ignores problems and excludes people only makes this development worse. «When we exclude, we create victims.»
Schweinsburg has represented the CDU in Thuringia’s state parliament since 2024. The question is whether the party will get rid of people like her, or whether a change of strategy will come.
