Kretschmer Skeptical About Banning the AfD and the "Firewall"

Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) is skeptical about proceedings to ban the AfD. We must remain level-headed, the CDU politician said in an interview with the Czech newspaper “Pravo.” “If the legal requirements aren’t met, then they aren’t met.” We must address the root causes of why the AfD is being elected, not talk about banning it.

“If exclusion, stigmatization, and a wall of silence have led to the party growing larger and larger over the years, then that is disastrous,” Kretschmer added. Many voters perceive this “firewall” as a refusal to discuss their problems and possible solutions. “That has to stop.”

The Minister President emphasized that the goal is not to form a government with the AfD. However, the problems will not disappear simply because one refuses to talk to the party. 

Kretschmer: Politics Should Solve Problems

To win back voters, politicians must solve their problems, according to Kretschmer. He referred to the local elections in Görlitz and the Ore Mountains. “There, centrist candidates won because they stand for results and concrete solutions.”

Kretschmer had previously spoken out repeatedly against the “firewall” against the AfD. In mid-September, for example, he said that this approach gives the AfD the role of a martyr.