Merz said on Monday that his party "never" will cooperate with AFD, and thus ended the feelers about a possible government cooperation with the far-right party after the new election to be held on January 23.
Earlier, the political front had been united against AFD among the other parties in the Bundestag. AFD had been kept away from all influence – something that had earned the term "firewall". But CDU and its sister party CSU from Bavaria hinted at possibilities for future cooperation with AFD – which was condemned by the other parties.
Everything was put to the test last week when CDU sought support from AFD for a bill on stricter asylum laws. The proposal was voted down in the Bundestag, with subsequent massive criticism.
Extensive protests were held in several major cities over the weekend against CDU's shift to the right. In Berlin, around 200,000 participants gathered on Sunday.
Merz has also been criticized by CDU's former leader, former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in an unusual intervention in the political discussion warned against the shift to the right.
At a party meeting in Berlin on Monday, Merz backtracked:
We will not work with the party that calls itself Alternative for Germany, not before (the election), not after, never, he said.
This party opposes everything that our party and our country have built in Germany over the past few years and decades.
