Germany’s conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said at a Monday press conference that the surge of the far-right AfD was “the last warning” to the country’s mainstream parties.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) scored its best-ever result in Sunday’s election, winning 20 percent of German voters, after a campaign marred by a spate of deadly car-ramming and stabbing attacks blamed on migrants.
“This is really the last warning to the political parties of the democratic center in Germany to come to joint solutions,” Merz said at a Berlin press conference. He pointed to the especially strong gains of the far-right party in the ex-communist east, the AfD’s heartland.
Merz, seeking to win back AfD voters who drifted from his center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), has vowed to crack down on immigration and enforce a “zero tolerance” law and order drive easing public fears, to the displeasure of left-wing parties essential to his coalition.
He said his own conservative party colleagues had warned him that Germany’s eastern region was “only a few years ahead of you in the west” and that “if you do not solve the problems, then you will have the same problem.”
He added that “we must work together to see that we solve the problems in Germany” in order to “gradually deprive this party of its breeding ground.”
The center-right leader faces tricky coalition talks and the prospect of an obstructive parliament after far-right and far-left parties both surged in the recent elections.
Merz, who has no previous experience in office, set his sights on allying with Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and cobbling together a government by Easter, though the SPD warned its support was not a given.
The party may set a high price for any deal following the recent elections, which laid bare deep policy divisions over immigration.
Merz drew sharp SPD criticism for pushing a parliamentary resolution on migration last month with support from the AfD. Critics saw the move as an unforgivable breach of a political quarantine to keep the far-right party out of power.
Mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, which enjoyed the endorsement of prominent right-wing US figures including Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and ally of President Donald Trump.
Merz also warned the US on Monday against turning its back on allies, but in the same breath urged Europeans to build up their own defense capabilities, saying it was now “five minutes to midnight for Europe.”
Hitherto seen as a Transatlanticist, Merz said Trump had shown his administration to be “largely indifferent to the fate of Europe”. He added that his “absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we can achieve real independence from the USA step by step.”
His comments underscored the turmoil engulfing the transatlantic alliance since the re-election of US President Donald Trump and fears he could strike a deal with Russia over Ukraine, while Kyiv and Europe watch from the sidelines.
On Sunday, Merz had criticized what he called “outrageous” comments from the Trump administration during the election campaign, comparing them to hostile interventions from Moscow.
Analysts say the pressure is on for the next coalition to come together quickly to hold its own against the Trump administration, and to fend off the AfD by showing that mainstream parties can address voters’ concerns.