BERLIN, Sept 9 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused on Wednesday the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) of supporting Russia against Germany’s interests and of advocating anti-immigration policies that amount to an “ethnic cleansing”.
Merz was delivering a speech in the German Parliament after his party’s crushing defeat to the AfD, which won the election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt with a platform that called for restricting immigration and restoring relations with Moscow.
In an email sent to Reuters, the AfD said Merz was deliberately distorting its position as a way to demonize the party, and stated that its policies are legal.
Merz is trying to regain the initiative after Sunday’s electoral defeat, and his approval ratings, which had reached historically low levels, called into question his standing and his government’s reform program. He rejected suggestions that he might resign.
“If what is being defended here, namely ‘remigration’, were to become a reality, it would be nothing more than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin color,” Merz said, in response to a previous speech by AfD co-leader Alice Weidel.
Merz also criticized the AfD’s calls to end support for Ukraine, accusing the party of being “firmly on Russia’s side”, even after a drone attack on a German airport last month, which, according to Merz, was carried out by Moscow. Russia denies.
The AfD was classified as a far-right extremist by the regional office of Germany’s domestic intelligence service. In its electoral program in Saxony-Anhalt, the party advocated “remigration” policies to speed up the deportations of asylum seekers rejected and foreign criminals, as well as encouraging people to leave voluntarily.
The party also wants the children of refugees to be educated in segregated classes.
“By ‘remigration’, the AfD refers to the deportation consistently — in accordance with the law — of all foreigners obliged to leave the country; nothing more. Chancellor Merz also knows this,” said AfD deputy Bernd Baumann in an email to Reuters.
“However, attributing ethnic cleansing as a political goal to the AfD is a desperate and sordid attempt to maintain a ‘barrier of protection’ through invented demonization.”
Merz said that forcing immigrants to leave would create a shortage of skilled labor that would end up being a backfire.
“No nursing homes will operate. No hospital in Germany will remain operational, and no restaurant will be able to stay in business — that would be the outcome of their remigration policy,” he said.
