Merkel’s own party calls for coalition with AfD

A member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own party, in a bid to retain power, is calling for a coalition with the Alternative for Germany (AfD)

A prominent member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) says an alliance between the parties would mean not losing a grip on the country. It would signal the end to polarised political groups on the right, if outlying forces are joined in a new alliance.

CDU MEP Hermann Winkler has called for a coalition between the AfD and his party, both at a national and at the federal level as co-operation with the right-wing anti-immigrationists would effectively secure Merkel’s control of the state.

According to Winkler: “If there is a conservative majority together with the AfD, we should form a coalition with them.”

Merkel’s migration policies are increasingly unpopular and the AfD have capitalized on a backlash over her open-door attitude to immigration.

The Chancellor’s party has lost considerable support, leading to a huge shift to the right. Coalition partners are now hoping to form allegiances in a bid to prevent themselves from losing power.

Joining forces with the far-right, previously shunned by the left-leaning centrists in power, could occur as soon as spring and just months ahead of the national election. Recent results in Saxony-Anhalt are an example of how an alliance could bolster the CDU. “In Saxony-Anhalt that would have made sense,” Winkler said.

In the regional elections, the AfD came second in the elections taking 24.3 per cent of the vote.

Currently the CDU is in an alliance with the leftist SPD and Greens.

The suggestion comes as other parties are calling on a “ceiling” of 200,000 refugees currently flooding into the country. Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) and coalition partner, demanded a cap to the influx to be “prescribed by law”.

The nationalists have won 16 per cent of the vote in the national polls, marking a resurgence not seen since the Second World War, and while political extremism and violence is rising in Germany, particularly among left-wing radical groups, the government intends to invest more in the integration of migrants.