The German conservative leader and favorite in the polls for the chancellorship closes the door to an alliance with the far right

The leader of the conservative bloc and favorite of the elections to be held on February 23 in Germany, Friedrich Merz, reiterated his rejection of a possible alliance with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) even after In Austria, a government formation with analogous parties is taking shape.

“If we did we would be selling the soul of the CDU“, he said in reference to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he heads, in an interview with public television on Friday night.

Thus, he gave his word that with him as leader his formation will never cooperate with the AfD, second in the polls with around 20% of the votes and ahead of the Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who would remain at 15%.

“Yes I will keep it. I link my future as president of the CDU to this response,” said Merz, who according to the polls could obtain around 30% of the votes, which will not be enough to govern alone.

Regarding the reasons why he rejects cooperation with the extreme right, the conservative leader answered exhaustively.

“We are not going to work with a party that He is xenophobic, he is anti-Semiticwhich has right-wing radicals in its ranks, which has criminals in its ranks, a party that flirts with Russia and that wants to leave NATO and the European Union,” he emphasized.

The far-right FPÖ was the most voted force in Austria in the September parliamentary elections and, after coalition talks between other forces failhas been tasked with forming a government, presumably with the conservatives.

What is happening in Austria shows that “We must not pave the way for right-wing populists to power,” said Merz, who rejected the option of “taming or making reason” to the extreme right.

Until now all German parties have maintained the so-called “cordon sanitaire” against the AfD and they have refused to cooperate with it at the federal and regional level, although at the local level some voices from the CDU are in favor of revising the cordon sanitaire, especially in the east of the country where the extreme right is strong.