Sachsen-Anhalt: Söder gegen AfD‑Verbot – aber für härtere Gangart

Markus Söder, the CSU Chairman, has strongly opposed an AfD ban but called for a tougher approach towards the party. He believes that one must tackle the AfD directly, given its many internal flaws. According to Söder, the party needed to become more concrete, concise, and clear, rather than constantly looking fearful and demanding a ban.

Of course, he acknowledged that the AfD is not a normal party and pointed to some parts of its ideology that were dehumanizing. However, after being elected, they have to respect the democratic outcome, and in doing so, they simultaneously have to assert that they will control it. The wall of fire concept failed, said Söder, referring to the high AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

"In football they would say: Then you must go all out in the duels." The AfD criticizes everything. "Let's see if they do better." The likelihood of AfD election winner Ulrich Siegmund becoming the next Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt is "extremely high," claimed the CSU leader, who assumed he would get the BSW into office. Söder called proposals to slash the state's revenue by cutting transfers from the Land Financial Equalization "absurd."

He believed these should be fundamentally changed. However, they cannot be used as punishment for a country. "I think this is the wrong approach. You have to do a different policy. That is the consequence from Saxony-Anhalt." Söder was open to the idea of preventing Saxony-Anhalt from taking over the presidency in the Minister-President Conference (MPK) in the fall.

"That now has to be discussed by the Ministers." If there is no new government in Magdeburg by the fall, the question of taking over the MPK presidency would make sense. "It is not an institutional right. The MPK is an agreement based on rules that one sets for oneself. It is also not a constitutional body." A "big justice check" on the pension reform was needed, Söder demanded, with savings in basic income and migration costs being released for other purposes like lowering energy taxes.

He called for a "big justice check" during the planned pension reform, mentioning exemptions and transition periods in the controversial abolition of the 63-year retirement pension as an example. The basic principle must remain, though. Söder also sees a need for improvement in the planned tax reform. He was in talks with Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) over the cold progression, which should, according to Söder, be dismantled.

Unlike previous plans, Klingbeil's plan does not aim to offset this with other measures. "The cold progression must be reduced," demanded Söder.