2024-08-17 23:22:35
“Don’t leave citizens angry”
Wagenknecht calls for rethinking in dealing with the AfD
Updated on 17.08.2024 – 10:48Reading time: 3 min.
In Thuringia and Saxony, the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance could achieve its first electoral successes. Just two weeks before the state elections, the party founder is calling for a different approach to the AfD.
BSW chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht is calling for a different approach to the AfD. “The previous approach of reflexively rejecting everything that comes from the AfD and celebrating themselves as great democrats has obviously not slowed Höcke and Co. down,” Wagenknecht told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
“If the AfD says the sky is blue, the BSW will not claim it is green. It is childish to deduce coalition intentions from this. A different approach is needed and, above all, the federal and state governments finally need sensible policies that take the wishes of the citizens into account instead of leaving them angry,” stressed the founder of the party named after her.
- Read also: Wagenknecht shows her true face – a comment
Wagenknecht was reacting to a statement by the Thuringian CDU’s top candidate, Mario Voigt. He had asked Wagenknecht to clarify after the Thuringian BSW’s top candidate for the state election on September 1, Katja Wolf, had not ruled out possible approval of AfD initiatives in parliament on Thursday evening on MDR.
Video | Dispute over the BSW: “A flawless representative of Russian propaganda”
BSW top candidate calls for “substantive” approach to AfD
“I’m not overly afraid that the AfD will bring in so many sensible legislative proposals,” said Wolf on the show on Thursday evening, citing her life experience. “But if that’s how it’s going to be, then it will be discussed and then there is the power of argument in the political arena.” The “very blinkered way of dealing with each other” is “actually no longer up to date.” She called for “not a normal way of dealing” with the AfD, but a “substantive way of dealing with it.”
Voigt later also accused the BSW of keeping the option of working with the AfD open. During the discussion on MDR it became clear that the BSW could obviously imagine tolerating an AfD minority government, said Voigt. Voters now know where they stand. Katja Wolf told the German Press Agency: “That is a completely absurd interpretation.”
Despite his harsh criticism, Voigt did not rule out cooperation between the Union and the newly founded party. He said he would humbly await the election results. His goal was to convince as many voters as possible to vote for his party with both votes.
- Read also: Former GDR civil rights activists accuse Wagenknecht of lying
The BSW only founded its Thuringian regional association in March. Nevertheless, according to polls, the party is very successful in the eastern German states – in Thuringia, a neck-and-neck race with the CDU for second place is looming in the state elections. If Wolf and the BSW are ahead of Voigt’s CDU on election night, she could lay claim to the office of Prime Minister. None of the parties with a chance of entering the state parliament wants to form a coalition with Björn Höcke’s AfD, which is why the AfD’s claim to power is considered unrealistic despite its top spot in the polls.
A few days ago, Wolf had already called for a new approach to the AfD in an interview with “Welt” and complained that the firewall had made the AfD ever stronger. If there were clear reasons to reject a motion, it should be rejected. “Or you have to rise above it and say: It’s reasonable, we agree. We need more pragmatism and less ideology,” she said.
Wolf believes AfD’s strength is “core problem in this country”
Wolf later told the German Press Agency that the focus should be more on content and not on “putting people down”. At the same time, however, she was clear about the political rules of the game. “If you are in a coalition, then different rules apply to motions. That is logical.”
On MDR, the politician made it clear that she considers the strength of the AfD to be a “core problem in this country”. A coalition with the party, which is classified as right-wing extremist in Thuringia, is still out of the question for her.
The CDU rejects cooperation with the AfD. However, the Christian Democrats in Thuringia have accepted AfD votes for their own bills in the past. Several laws were passed with the help of Höcke’s parliamentary group in the state parliament. At the same time, however, the CDU has always stressed that it would not agree to any AfD proposals or AfD laws.