(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to pick up the pieces this week after her party’s flirtation with the far right in eastern Germany led to a political fiasco.
With the small state of Thuringia suddenly dominating politics in Berlin, Merkel and other national leaders of her Christian Democratic Union are trying to keep the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, out of the region’s government. The CDU’s leadership is meeting Monday morning in the capital to chart the way forward.
In an unusual maneuver, Merkel is reaching across the political spectrum and wants to see the anti-capitalist Left party’s Bodo Ramelow return as caretaker premier in Thuringia, Bild am Sonntag reported. That would officially undo the appointment of his predecessor Thomas Kemmerich, a member of the liberal Free Democrats who was elected with support from local CDU and AfD lawmakers last week, only to resign Saturday as the fallout threatened Merkel’s national government.
However, Paul Ziemiak, the CDU general secretary, on Monday categorically ruled out any cooperation with the Left, which has its roots in the East German Communist Party.
“It’s about policy, and we have decided for fundamental reasons not to work with the Left and of course that also means we won’t help a Left party member become state premier,” Ziemiak said. He called for a “cross-party” solution that would allow the installation of an interim administration and pave the way for a new state election.
The turmoil in Thuringia has dealt a fresh blow to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the CDU chairwoman. Her position as Merkel’s heir apparent was already wobbling and she will have to reassert her authority after the chancellor stepped in to halt the spiraling crisis.
Kramp-Karrenbauer failed to force her party in Thuringia to back an early election in the region and Merkel returned from Africa over the weekend and abruptly fired a government official who’d broken with the party’s line. That met a key demand by the Social Democrats, her coalition partner in Berlin.
Kemmerich’s resignation after three days in office may calm the turmoil only temporarily.
The Social Democrats, whose poll support has reached all-time lows during Merkel’s latest term, backed off threats to leave the coalition if Kemmerich stayed on as state premier. Yet the SPD remains split between the party establishment and leftists who would like to ditch the alliance with Merkel.
Last week’s upheaval also exposed divisions within the CDU. Moderates derided its involvement in the rogue maneuver, while others criticized Merkel’s firing of the government official, CDU member Christian Hirte, an adviser for eastern German affairs.
Messy Dilemma
In Thuringia, a state of 2.2 million people in the formerly communist east, there’s effectively no government. While Merkel’s coalition is pushing for a new election, the state needs a functioning administration to call one.
Mike Mohring, the CDU state leader, said on Friday that lawmakers in his caucus were “irritated” by Berlin’s demands.
Ramelow, who headed a government of the Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens since 2014, told Bild newspaper he would make another run for the premiership and demanded the support of the CDU. He said the state legislature could vote to elect a premier during the week of Feb. 24, with a new election after the summer break, according to Bild.
Leaders of all other German parties have refused to work with the AfD, which won its first seats in the national Bundestag in 2017 on an anti-Merkel platform and is represented in all state legislatures.
The Left won Thuringia’s last regional election in October with 31% of the vote, while the AfD more than doubled its support to 23%. That gave traditional parties little bandwidth to form a governing majority and emboldened the far right.
“The goal for everyone must be clear: Merkel must go and as quickly as possible,” AfD co-leader Joerg Meuthen said Monday on Facebook. “It’s time for an end to Merkel’s disastrous chancellorship. It’s time for the AfD.”
(Updates with comments from CDU’s Ziemiak, AfD’s Meuthen)
–With assistance from Alexander Kell, Arne Delfs and Iain Rogers.
To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at [email protected], Chris Reiter, Tony Czuczka
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