BERLIN — Chancellor Friedrich Merz and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel collided in the Bundestag on Wednesday in the first major parliamentary confrontation since the far-right party’s historic win in Saxony-Anhalt, with Merz accusing the AfD’s “remigration” agenda of amounting to ethnic cleansing, Reuters and the BBC reported.
Weidel opened by telling Merz his conservatives had been “pulverised” after winning just 17.2 percent in the eastern state, where the AfD took nearly 44 percent. Merz answered that remigration, if carried out as described, would be “nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin colour,” and warned hospitals, nursing homes and restaurants would seize up without migrant skilled workers.
The AfD rejected the charge. Lawmaker Bernd Baumann told Reuters the party means lawful deportation of people required to leave Germany and accused Merz of “fabricated demonization” to preserve the mainstream “firewall” against coalitions with the AfD.
Three days after the vote, Saxony-Anhalt still lacked a clear path to government. The AfD fell short of a majority, mainstream parties refuse to enter coalition with it, and Merz accused the AfD of breaking a pledge to govern only with an absolute majority.
Merz also attacked the AfD’s Russia line and its call to end support for Ukraine, saying the party stood against Germany’s interests. The AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt branch is classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence; the national party rejects Nazi comparisons while opponents cite past remarks downplaying the Nazi period.
The clash matters beyond one state: it hardens the national fight over migration, Ukraine and whether Germany’s postwar cordon sanitaire around the far right can hold after the strongest state result for such a party since World War II.
Sources: Reuters; BBC; The Guardian
