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Several CDU district associations in Hesse reject cooperation with the AfD and refer to the clarification by party leader Merz.
Frankfurt – The distancing continues: After the Hessian Prime Minister and CDU state chairman Boris Rhein distanced himself from the statements made by party leader Friedrich Merz regarding cooperation with the AfD at the municipal level on Monday (July 24), the district associations in Hesse are now following suit. The former state minister and district chairwoman of the CDU Kassel-Stadt, Eva Kühne-Hörmann, agreed with Rhein’s statements. The state chairman said everything that was necessary, wrote the Kassel state parliamentarian when asked by this editorial team.
According to Merz’s statements in the ZDF summer interview, Hesse’s Prime Minister had clearly differentiated himself from the AfD. “For the CDU Hessen I can say very clearly that the firewall is in place. They are not our partners, we don’t work with them,” he said on Monday in the ZDF morning show. The AfD is a party “that does not fit with Christian Democratic values”. Cooperation with the AfD is also not possible for him at the municipal level, and he also did not understand Friedrich Merz that way. When asked how Friedrich Merz meant his statements, Rhein replied: “You have to ask Friedrich Merz yourself.” He understood him to mean that you also had to speak to elected AfD mayors, for example.
According to AfD statements by Merz: “matter” for Braun done
Similar to Rhein, other Hessian CDU district associations made statements when asked. “We rule out cooperation with the AfD. This applies consistently to all levels and all forms of cooperation,” said the chairman of the CDU Main-Kinzig, Max Schad. The AfD is constitutionally questionable, said Rebecca Menzel, district manager of the CDU Wetterau. “Your youth organization is now even classified as right-wing extremist. As a democratic party, we do not work with such groups. The AfD does not fit our Christian Democratic values,” Menzel wrote, referring to Merz’s later clarification that there would be no cooperation between the CDU and the AfD at the municipal level either.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz (l) sits with moderator Theo Koll at the ZDF summer interview. © Dominik Asbach/ZDF/dpa
The former head of the Chancellery and district chairman of the CDU Gießen, Helge Braun, also pointed out Merz’s clarification after the summer interview. With that, the matter was clear and settled for him again. The fact that there is no cooperation with the AfD is “the unanimous position in our CDU district association”.
Offenbach CDU leader: Democratic parties must find answers
For Andreas Bruszynski, district chairman of the CDU Offenbach, despite the rejection of cooperation with the AfD, the question arises as to how future dealings with the party on the far right should look like: “But the CDU chairman correctly pointed out that ways must be found of how to deal with elected representatives of the AfD at the municipal level. From my point of view, it is hard to imagine successfully administering a municipality if you simply ignore its democratically elected mayor. Not only the CDU will have to ask this question, but all democratic parties elected to parliament.”
The CDU Offenbach always adheres to the decisions of the federal party and will continue to do so. According to Bruszynski, democratically elected party representatives should also be dealt with democratically. “This is not always subject to entertainment tax, but a political necessity if you don’t want to expose yourself to suspicion of behaving undemocratically.” It is important that the democratic parties find answers to all questions. (near)
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