Merz: It's about keeping the country in the middle

Ahead of the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz has warned against the nationalism of the AfD. The elections would not only be observed in Germany, but throughout Europe, he said at the joint election campaign launch of the state associations of Saxony and Thuringia in Meerane, Saxony. It was about keeping the country in the center, Merz said.

"Conservative, liberal, social - all right, but not nationalistic. We are also patriots in the CDU," said Merz. But the difference is that patriots love their country and nationalists hate other countries. There is no compromise. Merz emphasized that there would therefore be no cooperation with the AfD.

He praised the leading candidate from Thuringia, Mario Voigt, for entering into a public discussion with the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke and "taking the mask off his face a little". "You deserve the utmost respect and thanks for that," he said. Höcke had subsequently got into trouble in his own ranks because he had been too soft and friendly in the discussion with Voigt.

Together with the Saxon Minister President Michael Kretschmer and the Thuringian state chairman Mario Voigt, Merz celebrated the election campaign kick-off of the two state associations of Saxony and Thuringia on Thursday evening. State elections are scheduled for September 1 in both states. In Saxony, the party recently came in just behind the AfD (30 percent) in an Infratest survey with 29 percent. In neighboring Thuringia, the CDU came in second in an Insa poll at the end of June with 22%, just ahead of the BSW (20%) and well behind the AfD (29%).