German parties’ boycott of far right looks to be over — with AfD on course for key jobs

 

German parties’ boycott of far right looks to be over — with AfD on course for key jobs

 

Lawmakers from the incoming chancellor’s CDU party signal an end to the “firewall” that saw mainstream politicians refuse to work with extreme groups for decades.

 

April 17, 2025 4:00 am CET

By Pauline von Pezold and Chris Lunday

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-conservatives-boycott-far-right-rethink-afd-cdu-friedrich-merz-spd/

 

BERLIN — The party that won Germany’s election is radically softening its approach to working with the far right as the reality of the country’s transformed political landscape starts to bite.

 

While the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) — the party of Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel — has for decades steadfastly refused to cooperate or do deals with politicians on the extremes, that “firewall” now appears to be crumbling as the German parliament works out how to organize itself in the wake of the country’s Feb. 23 snap election.

 

A challenge to the determination of mainstream politicians to give the Alternative for Germany (AfD) the cold shoulder looked inevitable as soon as it scored a huge success in the election, the first time a far-right party has come in second place in the country’s postwar era.

 

Some AfD lawmakers have already built ties with members of other parties behind closed doors and have received signals of support for the group, which promotes antimigration and anti-EU policies, to chair key parliamentary panels, officials from the AfD told POLITICO.

 

The AfD won more than 20 percent of the vote and secured 152 seats to become the biggest opposition party in the Bundestag, which entitles it to chair several committees. Those posts hold real power because committee chairs steer debates, summon expert witnesses and influence the legislative agenda.

 

‘Voters wanted to tell us something’

The CDU’s Friedrich Merz is set to become chancellor once a governing coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) gets to work next month.

 

CDU heavyweight Jens Spahn, a former health minister, told Bild that the AfD should be treated “in parliamentary procedures and processes like any other opposition party.” He said its MPs were “sitting there in such strength because voters wanted to tell us something” and that “we should take these voters seriously.” Bild is owned by POLITICO’s parent company, Axel Springer.

 

Until now, the CDU and other mainstream parties, including the center-left SPD of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have worked around this rule to keep the AfD out. It has been repeatedly blocked from holding the Bundestag vice presidency — a post historically granted by custom to each parliamentary group.

 

Johann Wadephul, deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, said the blockade had helped the AfD claim victimhood. He now supports allowing AfD candidates to chair committees “if they haven’t behaved inappropriately in the past,” he told RND.

 

Merz had already tested the waters during the election campaign — and received much criticism — by relying on AfD votes in parliament to push through a proposal on migration.

 

The CDU’s strategy seems to have shifted toward giving the far right responsibilities and air time in the hope people will find it distasteful.

 

“[There is] a legitimate point that this lot should be pushed back not through procedural tricks, but through passionate substantive debate,” Philipp Amthor, a CDU lawmaker considered a rising star in the party, told Frankfurt’s FAZ.

 

Not all CDU members are on board with the new tone, however. Senior lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter called the AfD “a security threat to Germany,” telling broadcaster RBB that “AfD lawmakers don’t belong in the parliamentary oversight panel that monitors the intelligence services — just as little as in the budget trust committee.”

 

The SPD, which finalized a government deal with Merz’s party last week, is already clashing with the CDU over the issue. Speaking to Tagesspiegel, SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast said: “The AfD is not a party like any other. We will protect our democratic institutions — above all our parliament — with full determination.”

 

Committee chair negotiations are still underway and will likely conclude after May 6, when Merz is expected to be sworn in.