Suche
Mein Konto
CDU breaks with the AfD? Mecklenburg district council votes for bridge!
The CDU in Western Pomerania-Greifswald approves an AfD proposal for the Usedom suspension bridge, which divides politicians and voters.
CDU breaks with the AfD? Mecklenburg district council votes for bridge!
The political landscape in Germany is becoming increasingly complex, as the latest developments in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania make clear. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has described the AfD as the “main opponent”, but the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is taking a different approach. During a vote in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district council, the CDU approved the AfD proposal to build a suspension bridge to the island of Usedom. The estimated construction costs for this project amount to an impressive 500 million euros. This comes just ten months before the state election, underscoring the importance of this decision. According to Bild, only ten of the 69 district council members voted against the application. Five out of eight parliamentary groups supported the AfD's proposal, which was the first time it found a majority in a district council.
The district administrator is now tasked with “promptly, actively and emphatically” advocating for the state and federal government to prioritize the project. This decision was seen as an “important political signal” by the CDU representatives and the AfD, while the SPD sharply criticized the cooperation. Alexander Krüger from the SPD emphasized that the “firewall” between the parties no longer exists. Jeannette von Busse (CDU) noted that the proposal was important for citizens and for trust in politics. The SPD, on the other hand, sees populism at work when it comes to the increasing solidarity between the CDU and AfD.
The political context
A comprehensive study by the Berlin Science Center for Social Research (WZB) provides figures that support the discussion about the so-called “firewall”. In the last five years, a total of 4,968 applications were submitted by the AfD in German local parliaments. But a large majority, namely around 81 percent of the applications, do not receive approval. Interestingly, the study shows that in eastern German districts, approval of AfD applications is significantly higher at 26.9 percent than in western German cities, where only 18 percent of applications are accepted. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the CDU has now taken a step that could encourage this trend. According to Tagesschau, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse are the three federal states with the most approval for AfD applications.
A further analysis shows that there is direct cooperation with the AfD in around 19 percent of local meetings. Even more astonishing: 934 of 4,968 AfD applications, which corresponds to around one in five applications, were approved by other parties. This data was documented in a study of 11,053 sessions between 2019 and 2024. The authors of the study emphasize that the data situation was “limited” in some circles, which could influence the validity of the results, as n-tv reports.
Looking into the future
The next period will be crucial as to how the cooperation between the CDU and the AfD will develop. The state elections are just around the corner. Many citizens are wondering what impact this cooperation will have on political culture and whether the “firewall” has been completely torn down. More and more political voices could interpret these coalitions as necessary pragmatic steps, while others warn that this endangers trust in politics. One thing is clear: things are moving, and the coming elections could set the course for the future.