A Liberal German politician from eastern Germany has caused an uproar in the country’s political establishment with a call to end the political ostracism of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
Paul Bressel, a former frontrunner for the Liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the State of Mecklenburg, told local newspaper Ostsee Zeitung on September 1 that his party should end its self-imposed ban on collaborating with the right-wingers and seek a coalition with them and the Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after the State elections in 2026.
“The cordon sanitaire [the decision of establishment parties not to work with AfD in any form] must be torn down”, Bressel said. “Only in an alliance with the CDU and AfD does the FDP still have a future in the State. Anything else will lead to insignificance.”
Bressel admitted his ideas were motivated by the FDP’s dismal recent polling, saying: “If you want to survive, you have to break free from the shackles you have built for yourself.”
The party can currently expect to get only 3 per cent of the vote – significantly less than the 5 per cent necessary to make it into the State parliament in Schwerin again.
In the federal German election in February the FDP – previously part of the left-wing government coalition of then-chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) – had already dropped out of the German Bundestag, the lower house of the German federal parliament in Berlin.
Bressel suggested his party was being punished for abandoning its core libertarian values, asking rhetorically: “Is the FDP’s difficult situation due to the liberals’ excessive pandering to the left-wing, green zeitgeist?”
His remarks have earned him a storm of criticism from the FDP leadership. Deputy party leader Svenja Hahn said the AfD “despises and wants to destroy everything FDP stands for”.
She added: “Liberals must not allow themselves to be used as a stepping stone for enemies of democracy.”
FDP MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann suggested Bressel leave the party altogether, writing: “Anyone in the FDP who wants to form a coalition with the AfD has no place in our party. Period.”
Today, Bressel countered his critics on X, writing: “Yes, the AfD has right-wing extremist elements. I view that critically. But there are also left-wing extremist elements in the Green Party and the leftist Die Linke party. Nevertheless, we formed a coalition with them.
“The fact is that we agree with the AfD on 60 to 80 per cent of issues, but with Die Linke on barely 10 to 20 per cent.”
