Former German Prime Minister Angela Merkel has repeatedly criticised party leader Friedrich Merkel and relied on votes from the far-right AFD to pass a motion in parliament.
She didn’t think it was right “to remain silent in such important circumstances,” Merkel said Wednesday at an event hosted by the Die Zeit newspaper.
It was a “maintain issue of importance.”
Opposition CDU leader Friedrich Merz was to use the support of Germany’s far-right alternative (AFD) to see a non-binding resolution on border policy passed last week in Parliament.
The move sparked nationwide protest as Meltz attracted criticism for breaking post-Nazi norms known as the “firewall.”
After the vote, Merkel accused Merkel of breaking his pledge that he had not made sure that he would not pass the law following the collapse of the German Union government.
Merkel, who once led the CDU, said in a statement that “Merz thought he was ‘wrong’, “will not be bound by this proposal.”
The use of AFD backing should not occur.”
Asked about her criticism of Merkel on Wednesday, Merkel said, “even under difficult conditions.”
Since she resigned in 2021 more than 15 years later as German Chancellor, Merkel has rarely criticised CDU policy.
Mertz, the CDU prime minister candidate in Germany’s February election, rejected Merkel’s criticism.
He condemned the rise of the AFD on Merkel’s open door transition policy during the refugee crisis. In 2015, when she was Prime Minister, Merkel decided to allow more than a million asylum seekers to Germany. Many of them came from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is no lost love between the two CDU leaders. Merkel thwarted Merkel’s ambition to become Merkel’s prime minister 20 years ago, and afterwards Merkel took a leave of absence from politics until Merkel resigned.
Merkel refuses responsibility for the rise in AFD
Looking back on Wednesday, Merkel accused the immigration policy dispute between the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, CSU, of playing in the hands of the AFD at the time.
“It was not right that we (CDU and CSU) discussed that much,” Merkel said.
However, she refused to accusations that she had taken the wrong course on migration, and the policy inadvertently led to an increase in the popularity of AFD.
“When I took office, my AFD was 11%,” Merkel said Wednesday. “The fact that I’m now at 20% (voting) is no longer my fault.”
Editors: Roshni Majumdar, Wesley Dockery
