Weidel predicts that the coalition between the CDU and SPD will not last. However, the two parties have been working together for a long time. What do you think? Will they last for the entire legislative period?
Yes, it is indeed very tense. There are reasons to believe that the coalition will hold out and also grounds that it will collapse sooner. The points that back that they will last is that, first, you have to imagine that the SPD has been represented in the federal government without interruption since 1998, with only an interruption of four years.
The second point is that we have this federal system in Germany with 16 state governments and the Federal Council. The SPD is represented in 12 out of 16 state governments. The state governments have a very great interest in ensuring that the problems are now solved in the federal government. And these prime ministers or those who are involved in these state governments. They are putting a lot of pressure on us to make real changes now. This means that there are strong forces that will hold the government together.
On the other hand, the SPD is under great pressure because it has now achieved its worst election result ever, with 16%. The worst result since 1949. And not only that, since 1887. In the Reichstag elections, it only performed worse before that. The worst result in a national election for over 130 years and a strengthened Left Party to the left of it. And the Greens, who will now also move to the left again, that means there is a lot of pressure.
Merz says that Europe must become independent from the United States. What do you believe? Do you think that is a real solution and is it even possible?
So, I think the fact that the Trump administration is putting massive pressure on Europe to spend more on defense, then there is the massive pressure from the threat of higher tariffs. In other words, JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference also made it clear that America is partially withdrawing from Europe, or at least threatening to do so, which is provocative on the European side, and I believe that this is also what the American government wants, that they say we must now focus more on defense, we must invest more in defense and become more independent. But I believe that in reality nothing will change in transatlantic cooperation. NATO will also be preserved, I am quite sure of that. But Trump is forcing the Europeans – and I think that’s sensible – to pay more attention to defense, both in what you spend, but also beyond that.
Merz has also said that America and Elon Musk were trying to influence the election. And he said that there are consequences for what they have done. Do you think he can enforce any sort of consequence?
I think these are pithy words that will hardly be followed by anything. I believe these are domestic policy statements with which Merz wanted to score points. But it is of course interesting to see how strongly Elon Musk has commented on German domestic politics. We are also very surprised by this.
Rationally, it is hard to understand why an American billionaire, who must have his eye on a global market> he probably does most of his business with China, Europe as a whole, and, above all, with the USA.
Coming from America. It is actually very, very difficult to understand why he personally interferes in the Bundestag elections in such detail. And well, perhaps he is really driven by a genuine political interest.
So, you do not believe that it was a good thing that Elon Musk got involved?
So what is my personal opinion?
Yes, your personal opinion.
I think it’s his right. And of course, the fact that Elon Musk took over Twitter and now X was an important turning point. That was an absolute liberating blow for freedom of expression in Europe and for Germany. This has initiated an absolute change of course in public opinion in order to break the left’s sovereignty of discourse. And of course, it is not totally unproblematic when — how should we put it — foreign entrepreneurs and politicians interfere so heavily in an election campaign. On the other hand, we have so much going wrong. And German politicians also intervened in the American election campaign, as did the German media. Almost all of them made propaganda for Biden or Harris. So we can’t complain if Republican politicians or Elon Musk have interfered in the German election campaign. But the question is, of course, how big is the impact of this commitment? That is perhaps the question now.
Do you think Musk had a real impact? Could it be that AfD might have even had a better election result without any of his open support?
It really is a very interesting question. I believe that Elon Musk’s conversation with Alice Weidel and even that he allowed himself to be connected to the party conference has had a great symbolic effect on the political class, the elites and the media. This has made it demonstratively clear that there is no total isolation for the AfD, even internationally. It was always said before that the AfD had become so radical that it was politically isolated in Europe. The other European right-wing parties want nothing to do with the AfD. That was partly true, especially a year ago after the so-called Potsdam affair, when Marine Le Pen, for example, broke off contact with the AfD. And until recently, Viktor Orban did not officially maintain any contact with the AfD either.
But now with this contact with Elon Musk, there has also been a turning point or a breakthrough. Alice Weidel had this almost state reception in Budapest with Viktor Orbán. Then there was JD Vance’s visit to Munich, where he met Alice Weidel in person. I would say that, at this level of the elite or the opinion elite, it was simply demonstrated that the isolation has been broken.
The big question is what effect has this had on voters? And we also had a lively discussion in the editorial team about whether Elon Musk, for example, is not so popular with many voters. In other words, he has the image of one of the richest men in the world among the masses, let’s put it that way. And American and so on.
It is not said that this had any effect on the broad masses beyond the (AfD) supporters who would already vote AfD anyway. Beyond the (AfD) supporters, there are also doubts as to whether this has actually won the AfD any sympathy.
But the other issue is much more important, that the isolation has been broken.
Could it be that AfD in the next few years makes inroads with other conservatives, such as joining the Patriots of Europe group in the European Parliament?
So I’m pretty sure things are going to change because now it has simply been demonstrated that the AfD is twice as strong. After the election, congratulations were not only offered by Viktor Orban, but also by Salvini, for example, and by Vox in Spain. So many people have already congratulated me who weren’t looking for contact before. I think that’s already changing.
Do you still believe a ban of the AfD is unlikely?
I think it’s really too late for a ban. The AfD is already too strong and, on the contrary, this (ban) pressure can no longer be maintained. I believe that the other parties have now understood that demonizing the AfD was not a means of making them smaller. The crux of the matter is who takes the first step? I believe that in next year’s state elections. There are elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In Saxony-Anhalt in particular, the AfD has just received over 38 percent. In principle, the AfD will become so strong in Saxony-Anhalt that it will be impossible to govern without it. And in Saxony, which is currently governed by a minority government led by the CDU, the pressure is constantly growing for the CDU to finally work together with the AfD. I’m pretty sure that in the next year or two the firewall in the East will break down and that one of the states will really work with the AfD for the first time. And I believe that this will simply change the entire approach to the AfD and a ban, now that’s ludicrous. I don’t think that will happen.
But did you once think it would be impossible to raid the Compact Magazine offices? You said that Germany has a constitutional state, but then something like that happened.
Yes, it was a clumsy attempt. And it failed. They tried, that really was an embarrassing signal from the federal minister of the interior. Such a clumsy attempt to silence a newspaper. And it failed. This also shows that Germany is a constitutional state and you can’t get away with this in court. Even if this magazine sometimes takes very radical positions. But it must be possible to take such positions within the framework of press freedom.
But from what I understood, the case is not over. The Constitutional Court still has to decide somehow whether a ban should be placed on Compact.
It is true that it was first canceled in summary proceedings. There are still proceedings on the merits, that is correct. But I am 100 percent sure Compact will win.
You’re really 100 percent sure?
Yes, because it really is about the freedom of the press and it is impossible to do that. They (the interior ministry) tried to turn the GmbH, i.e. the publishing company, into an association because banning a club is easy. An association is a group of people that is geared towards political action, which is assessed differently in legal terms. But this is about a newspaper and it’s about freedom of the press. It’s a bit like in the USA. In the US, where as far as freedom of expression is concerned, the rights go even further, traditionally. But here this is about freedom of the press. Freedom of the press has always been categorized as the greatest good by the Federal Constitutional Court. We were also affected once. I don’t know if you know that, but we spent ten years in litigation because Junge Freiheit was mentioned in the North Rhine-Westphalia constitution protection report with “suspicious statements.” We have also won from the Federal Constitutional Court.
So, you’re not afraid that the police will suddenly be in your office?
No, I’m not afraid, no.
But it is true that in the past, they have banned certain newspapers, for example, communist newspapers, right?
No newspaper has ever been banned in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. There is indexing, that is, indexing is what it is called when, for example, written material is indexed because of criminal law, for example because of certain pornographic content or other things.
But there was a time in the 1960s when the Federal Minister of the Interior tried to get the Nationalzeitung (National Newspaper). They no longer exist today, so a right-wing extremist weekly newspaper should also be banned. This was also rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court. There is no precedent.
It is clear that the migration crisis will continue, or it really has become much clearer in recent years due to increased terror attacks. Do you think that the CDU and SPD can find a solution — or if not a solution — then can they do enough to at least weaken the AfD?
I think they are under a lot of pressure. I also believe that there is a greater willingness to make decisions now. But I would predict that there will be lazy compromises. This is because the SPD is also under massive pressure from the left wing of the party, from non-governmental organizations, from the Greens, who are now in opposition, and also from a strengthened Left Party, which is in opposition.
There will be massive pressure if the government makes any decisions regarding rejections at the border, stricter deportations or restrictions on social benefits for migrants and asylum seekers. We have a huge NGO scene in Germany — or what we can say as an “asylum-industrial complex.” In other words, by people who earn money from migration, from the asylum business. There will be massive protests from this sector and pressure on the SPD. And the SPD is very weak and battered. That’s why I fear that the decisions will always be softened.
On the other hand, the CDU is under great pressure due to the success of the AfD. It’s like a dilemma:
Who exerts the greatest pressure and whether they move? I’m actually very skeptical about this. If things go well, tough decisions will be made, but I am skeptical.
Dieter Stein is the founder and editor-in-chief of Junge Freiheit, which was founded in 1986 and has been published weekly out of Berlin since 1994. The influential paper is the largest conservative weekly in Germany.
