German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejects banning the AfD and calls for a political confrontation to win back the party’s voters

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin on Wednesday that he remains skeptical about the chances of any potential procedure to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party succeeding. He argued that such a measure would not solve the problem posed by the far-right party.

The statement came after the AfD’s victory in Sunday’s election in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the party secured more than twice the score of the CDU, the party led by Merz and in power in the state since 2002.

“The priority in dealing with the AfD must be political confrontation and an attempt to win its voters back to the political center,” the chancellor said. Merz accused the party of endangering Germany’s prosperity through its hostile stance toward the European Union and its support for leaving the EU, the eurozone and the Schengen Area.

In the first parliamentary confrontation with the AfD since the regional election, Merz accused the party of seeking “ethnic cleansing in Germany” and of being a destructive force. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said the CDU had been “pulverized” in Saxony-Anhalt and called on the chancellor to step back.