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Central Council of Jews warns CDU against cooperation with AfD

2020-12-05T22:16:10.174Z


With the dismissal of Interior Minister Stahlknecht, the government crisis in Saxony-Anhalt escalates. The Central Council of Jews fears worse, the Left and the FDP are calling for a vote of confidence.


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Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (right) next to Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht, who has now been fired

Photo: Christian Schroedter / imago images / Christian Schroedter

In the dispute over the increase in radio broadcasts in the Magdeburg state parliament, the Central Council of Jews urgently warned the CDU against cooperating with the AfD.

A joint vote between the CDU and the AfD, which is currently emerging, would be an "alarming signal," said Central Council President Josef Schuster of the "Jüdische Allgemeine" (online).

"Such an approach would be capable of seriously damaging the credibility of the party as a whole."

In the course of the broadcast dispute, Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff dismissed Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht (both CDU).

He thus drew the conclusions from an unsettled interview on the coalition dispute over the radio license fee.

In the interview Stahlknecht had announced that there could be "a CDU minority government" if the Kenya coalition of the CDU, SPD and Greens fell out over the radio license.

The SPD and the Greens had threatened to break the coalition if the CDU and the AfD voted against the planned increase in the contribution. 

Left and FDP demand a vote of confidence

Left and FDP in Saxony-Anhalt asked Haseloff on Friday afternoon to ask the vote of confidence.

It was a "war of direction within the CDU Saxony-Anhalt openly broke out," said left parliamentary group leader Eva von Angern.

The CDU is deeply divided, "there are irreconcilable wings facing each other."

The FDP said that the Prime Minister apparently no longer had his parliamentary group and the CDU regional association led by Interior Minister Stahlknecht behind him.

The parliamentary manager of the left in the federal government, Jan Korte, criticized the behavior of the federal CDU, which had initially held back with comments on the situation in Saxony-Anhalt.

"In view of the tough argument between the right wing and a wandering CDU Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt, one wonders whether the CDU leadership actually has an opinion." With a view to the "scandal in Thuringia", the CDU must now take a clear position .

At the beginning of the year, the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich had himself elected as short-term prime minister with votes from the AfD and CDU, after much back and forth new elections are pending.

"For once, it would also be interesting what the three candidates for the CDU leadership actually say about this conflict," said Korte.

Kramp-Karrenbauer calls for stability

CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacted later on Friday to the tense situation in Saxony-Anhalt.

She called on the black-red-green coalition for stability: "I hope that all responsible forces in Saxony-Anhalt will work together with the Prime Minister to ensure political stability," said the federal chairwoman.

Prime Minister Haseloff made appropriate proposals for this.

"The decision now lies in particular with the SPD and the Greens, who have to become aware of their political responsibility."

Haseloff has "the support of the entire German CDU"

One of the candidates for the CDU chairmanship also made a statement.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet said: "I welcome the consistent step taken by Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff." The AfD should never be a political partner.

“There must be no cooperation whatsoever with a radical right-wing party.” The CDU is firmly anchored in society “with a clear compass of values”.

Haseloff had "the support of the entire German CDU".

Saxony-Anhalt's Greens leader Sebastian Striegel assessed the expulsion of Stahlknecht as "only the next round of the CDU power struggle".

"In the middle of a pandemic, it is becoming apparent that in the CDU Saxony-Anhalt it is not state political responsibility and factual politics that play a role, but only questions of power and unresolved conflicts," he told SPIEGEL.

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mfh / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-12-05

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