Renewed debates over Germany's “firewall” erupt over shocking AfD polls

A fresh debate has erupted within Germany’s Social Democratic Party of Germany over how to deal with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), after former Schleswig-Holstein premier Torsten Albig suggested that Social Democrats should also be open to minority governments tolerated by the AfD.

Speaking to German media, Albig argued that Germany’s ongoing debate over the so-called political “firewall” — or Brandmauer — ignores the fact that many former SPD voters now stand behind that wall.

He said those voters “must not be walled in,” arguing instead that mainstream parties should “build bridges back over the wall” for them.

In recent years, Germany’s political establishment has increasingly breached the once-unwritten rule of never cooperating with the far right. At the same time, debate has intensified over whether the political “firewall” separating mainstream democratic parties from the AfD has effectively begun to crumble.

Albig’s comments quickly drew backlash from several regional SPD branches. Achim Post, one of the party’s leading figures ahead of the state election campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia, told Bild that “everything about it is wrong and disastrous,” adding: “The enemy stands on the right.”

Former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also renewed calls to uphold the firewall against the AfD and keep the party away from power.

At the SPD party congress in June last year, delegates approved preparations for a possible ban procedure against the AfD.

The right-wing party has steadily increased its polling numbers over recent years, alarming politicians across much of Germany’s political spectrum. Critics have repeatedly warned about the AfD’s growing popularity and called for stronger precautionary measures.

The eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt is due to hold state parliamentary elections later this year. According to an Infratest dimap poll published on May 7, the AfD is polling at 41 percent ahead of the vote, while the Christian Democratic Union of Germany stands at 26 percent and the SPD at just 7 percent.

Concerns over the AfD’s potential rise to power intensified after remarks by Ulrich Siegmund, the party’s lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, who said that if elected, between 150 and 200 positions within the state administration would need to be replaced.

By Nazrin Sadigova