TV column “Hart aber fair” - SPD man and Green join forces against Merz - CDU official loses his temper

The Thuringian town of Dillstädt was considered a CDU stronghold. Until the 2025 federal election: almost every second of the approximately 740 residents voted for the AfD on Sunday. Liane Bach explained to “Hart aber fair” presenter Louis Klamroth during his visit to the site why the party of top candidate Alice Weidel performed particularly well in East Germany.

"East Germans have experienced two forms of society, they notice small things," said the non-party mayor, observing the "creeping" rise of the AfD. She would advise politicians to work with the AfD, because "if you ignore something, it will only get worse," Bach also argued in the talk show. The AfD was democratically elected, receives money from taxpayers and should therefore be included in decisions, said the mayor.

This is exactly what CDU chairman and election winner Friedrich Merz had ruled out on the evening of the federal election : There is no room for cooperation between his party and the AfD, neither as a coalition nor in the form of tolerating a minority government. The most likely option at the moment is a coalition between the SPD and the Union . "Will this bring about real, new policy change, which so many people want?" Louis Klamroth wanted to know from Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD, Head of the Federal Chancellery), Philipp Amthor (CDU, Member of the Bundestag and member of the party's federal executive board), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP, Member of the European Parliament and member of the party presidium), Andreas Audretsch (The Greens, deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag and campaign manager) and journalist Gilda Sahebi.

"I would have liked more options for forming a government," admitted Amthor, and spoke of a "founded hope that Merz would become the next German Chancellor." Like Merz, Amthor also rejects cooperation with the AfD. While they do not want to cooperate with AfD officials, there is " no firewall to AfD voters , but rather a dialogue," he said, addressing the Dillstadt mayor. "We want to show that we have understood and want to solve the problems."

As to how this could be achieved, "there are different concepts," explained SPD politician Schmidt. "The time for sayings is over, now it's about agreement." He thus cleverly evaded Klamroth's question about whether Schmidt would take on a position in the red-black government. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also failed to answer the personnel changes, predicting "four tough years" after the failure to enter the Bundestag and the resignation of FDP leader Christian Lindner and calling for an investigation.

But since all good things come in threes, Klamroth dared to make another attempt and turned to Amthor with the personnel question (“Everyone gets one from this evening,” as Strack-Zimmermann commented): “People are not asking themselves first and foremost what will become of Strack-Zimmermann, Schmidt or Amthor,” he said, getting worked up, “but in the difficult situation in which only a coalition is possible, which no one has wholeheartedly wanted, people are asking themselves: will they pull themselves together, will they manage to form a sensible government? That is more important than any personnel issue.” The economy must be stimulated, but above all migration and crime must be brought under control.

Even if the AfD was able to score points on the issue of migration in particular, there are always social problems behind it - journalist Gilda Sahebi had learned from door-to-door campaigners. Wealth inequality in the USA had already led to Trump's election and is also growing here: "It cannot be a good thing that infrastructure - digitization, daycare, schools - loses everything and the wealthy become wealthier." The narrative that migration is to blame for this is being spread not only by the AfD, but also by the CDU - she got into a heated argument with Amthor on this issue. "In this way, the AfD narrative is gradually entering the democratic space."

The CDU politician saw it differently: migration is a problem for many people. With the 5-point plan, the Union had "made a series of proposals". In view of the SPD's election losses to the AfD, he assumed that there would be a strong willingness to accept this program in coalition negotiations. The fact that Merz had already withdrawn the point of arresting 40,000 people who were required to leave the country immediately, as quoted by Klamroth, was dismissed by the CDU politician as "quibbling over words" and was open to the SPD having "smarter proposals".

Wolfgang Schmidt also hoped that the Union would be willing to compromise on this issue. "Mr Merz should work on that," because pushing through something with the votes of the AfD would not be the right attitude. Merz's actions in the Bundestag a few weeks ago had "really destroyed my trust," criticized Andreas Audretsch of the Greens, and once again argued - to applause - that such cooperation with right-wing extremists should be ruled out for everyone.

Amthor was not at all pleased with this "anti-fascist tutoring from the red-green coalition". Putting the CDU in a corner with a brown cloak would have caused serious damage to the political center, he raged. "I wish you happy coalition negotiations," Strack-Zimmermann commented dryly on the heated discussions.