Söder contradicts Kretschmer: No cooperation with the AfD

Background: Kretschmer's initiative in the Handelsblatt

The trigger was a statement by Saxon Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU), who had called in the "Handelsblatt" for a willingness to hold talks with all parties – including the AfD. Kretschmer had said: "Wer noch über Brandmauern redet, hat die Zeichen der Zeit nicht erkannt." Söder took this statement as the starting point to make his displeasure clear. He contradicted Kretschmer directly, saying that statements like those of the Saxon politician unsettled many people.

Söder also warned of strategic damage to the Union if it opened up to the AfD. The AfD had also "very brutally" declared that it wanted to oust the Union from office; the Union is the main enemy. This "would ultimately lead to a massive split of the Union," Söder said. The Union must not become "a sort of stepping stone" and pave the AfD's path to power, the CSU leader warned against a split of the Union.

Söder's warning of a split within the Union

Söder also specifically named individuals in the AfD with whom cooperation is out of the question for him. "Da passieren Sachen und Worte fallen, die sind jenseits dessen, was demokratische Kultur ist. Mit solchen Leuten, vor allem den Menschen dort in der Partei und den Führungskräften, Höcke und Co., kann und will ich nicht zusammenarbeiten," Söder said in the ZDF summer interview. He made clear that, in his view, not only the AfD's programmatic orientation but also individual protagonists stand in the way of cooperation.

The dispute between Söder and Kretschmer comes at a time when the CDU is internally debating how to position itself vis-à-vis the AfD. While parts of the Union – especially in eastern Germany – are considering a more pragmatic approach toward the opposition party, the CSU under Söder is sticking to a clear line of separation. The ZDF summer interview appearance in Tutzing was Söder's most pointed public contradiction to date of the line articulated by Kretschmer.

Implications for eastern Germany

Observers also interpret the appearance as a signal to the federal CDU not to decide on loosening its previous demarcation from the AfD ahead of state elections in the east. Söder repeatedly pointed to the majority conditions in the east and insisted that forming a government there was possible even without the AfD. He thereby explicitly positions himself against Kretschmer, whose state party in Saxony is currently under particular pressure from the AfD.

With his statements, Söder is intensifying the intra-party debate about the right course. Kretschmer's remark – in which he had described the discussion about firewalls as no longer in keeping with the times – was implicitly rejected by Söder, without addressing every single statement by name. Both politicians emphasized, however, that they have the situation in eastern Germany in mind – only in their conclusion on how to respond to the AfD do they visibly diverge.

The ZDF summer interview appearance in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg is part of the traditional summer interview series of the governing parties at the federal level. The report was distributed by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). In substance, the conversation marks a watershed in the relationship between the sister parties CDU and CSU: With unusually sharp words, Söder reaffirmed the CSU's position against cooperation with the AfD and simultaneously called Kretschmer's course into question.