‘The firewall has fallen!’ Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), posted on X, barely able to contain her excitement. The firewall (‘Brandmauer’) refers to the agreement by Germany’s establishment parties never to endorse or collaborate with the AfD. Last week, it was breached – for the first time in the history of the federal German parliament, a motion was passed with the AfD’s help.
The person responsible was the man tipped to be Germany’s next chancellor: Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz. Merz’s motion called on the government to reintroduce permanent border controls, block all attempts to enter the country illegally and prioritise the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants. Since the vote was not legally binding, Merz’s aim was threefold: cement his image as a migration strongman, stem the flow of voters rushing away from the centre-right towards the AfD and embarrass the centre-left, particularly the Social Democratic party (SPD). Merz’s motion passed by just three votes. Two days later Merz tabled a second, this time legally binding, motion to tighten the country’s asylum laws, which was rejected by 12 votes. Once again, to apoplexy of the governing coalition parties, he relied on AfD support.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Merz’s actions ‘unforgivable’. Rolf Mützenich, chair of the SPD parliamentary group, drew agitated comparisons with the fall of the Weimar Republic before urging Merz to ‘re-establish’ the firewall. ‘Your fall from grace will always accompany you,’ he said. ‘But we can still close the gateway to hell together.’
It is two weeks until Germany’s federal election and the establishment political parties are panicking.
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