The political fallout is coming fast and furious after the Christian Democrats (CDU) passed a historic new “five-point” law tightening immigration by relying on votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
A thousand left-wing protesters gathered in front of the CDU headquarters in Berlin, with Bild writing that they “are calling for a ban on the CDU and AfD.”
This call for a ban comes despite both parties, when their polling numbers are combined, constituting close to 50 percent of the vote in Germany.
JUST IN: The German left is now calling for a BAN on the CDU and the AfD.
That is over 50% of the voting population, according to polling.
1,000 demonstrators gathered in Berlin after the CDU and AfD voted together to pass a groundbreaking law to tighten immigration.
BILD… pic.twitter.com/HeVUptFjd8
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 29, 2025
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said the joint agreement of the Union, FDP and AfD to tighten asylum laws amounted to a “breaking of taboos.” He also added during an appearance on the Maischberger television program that he can “no longer trust Friedrich Merz.”
However, he struck a more cautious note about a ban of the AfD, saying that the evidence is not in place yet to successfully pursue a ban of the AfD.
“We are a constitutional state and even people who are completely rejected must be able to trust it,” said the Chancellor. Banning a party is “very, very difficult and the last step. When you get to that point, you have to prepare very carefully.” However, he called for continuous surveillance of the AfD from German security services.
Other left-wing politicians, particularly from the Greens and the Left Party have been calling for a ban for some time, while Scholz has been more cautious.
However, while there have been no official calls for a ban on the CDU from party bigwigs, the mood could quickly shift if the CDU steps up its cooperation with the AfD. Left-wing political parties are still calling for action against the CDU, with the Green Youth proposing a “firewall” against the party.
“Conservatives who are supporters of Nazis cannot become coalition partners,” said the co-leader of the Green Youth, Jakob Blasel. He said that under the leader Friedrich Merz, the “Greens must not enter a coalition with the CDU and CSU.”
On X, Robert Habeck, the chancellor candidate for the Greens, also called the immigration vote in the Bundestag a “turning point in Germany.”
“Friedrich Merz and the Union have abandoned the consensus of the political center of this house not to make common cause with the extremes,” wrote Habeck.
The law presented by the CDU was more or less a copy of proposals put forward by the AfD for years, all of which the CDU refused to vote on in order to avoid any cooperation with the AfD. However, the pressure over the issue of immigration has reached a boiling point, with migrants involved in murders and terror attacks plaguing the country on a weekly basis. Now, the political tide has turned.
The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, also criticized the vote.
“I find it disappointing that the democratic political forces in our country – even during the election campaign – were not able to agree on a common approach and thus prepared the stage for the AfD,” Schuster told the Jüdische Allgemeine in an initial reaction to the parliamentary decision.
Merz has defended the vote, saying: “We have now brought what we believe to be right to the Bundestag and have also received a majority for it.” He lamented that he needed the AfD to pass the bill but said “Firewall is the wrong image. I want the fire behind the wall not to become a conflagration across Germany.” However, just in November, he said he would not put forward such a vote if it required cooperation with the AfD to pass.
The AfD has been ecstatic about the vote outcome, which signals the end of the so-called firewall.
“This is truly a historic moment,” said Bernd Baumann, the chief whip of the AfD parliamentary faction. “This means the end of red-green dominance here in Germany forever. A new era is beginning here and now, and we are leading it!”