A sentence like a sledgehammer! In ntv talks with Pinar Atalay (47), Union faction leader Jens Spahn (45, CDU) categorically quashed all current speculation about a black-and-blue coalition between the Union and AfD.
Spahn a very clear answer to Atalay’s question about right-wing parties: “With a party loyal to Putin and wanting a weak Germany, they attacked us Russia “You almost want to say when you look at the conscription debate – they don’t want us to be able to defend ourselves – there will be no cooperation, no discussion with a party that has anti-Semites and right-wing extremists.”
Jens Spahn was a guest in ntv’s talk with Pinar Atalay (47)
Spahn insists: “We are a bulwark against the AfD”
Atalay’s question: “Ricarda Lang of the Green Party recently told Ronzheimer’s colleague (BILD vice president and podcaster Paul Ronzheimer) that they are consciously trying to ensure that the coalition fails to form another coalition, for example by AfD to allow.” – Spahn calmly: “Just because Ricarda Lang claims something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Atalay still said again: “How far will you go?” – Spahn is now very clear: “We are a bulwark against the AfD. Look at Saxony-Anhalt, at Saxony, at Thuringia. The only relevant political force stopping the AfD there and opposing it is the CDU. The others are somehow below or around that five percent hurdle.”
Spahn: “This is a betrayal of the motherland!”
Spahn’s analysis: “The AfD leaders say they want to destroy us because they say we are the ones preventing them from taking power. I see every day what they do in the German Bundestag. For me that is not patriotism, it is a betrayal of the motherland!”
Spahn responded to Atalay’s question about whether Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (69) meant the AfD in his speech on November 9 (“No political cooperation with extremists”): “He meant extremists. That includes the extreme AfD, but to me it also includes parties that have left-wing extremists in their ranks. Extremists are still extremists. Left, right, Islamists: no cooperation!”
Host Pinar Atalay (47)
There are no talks, no agreement with the AfD
Spahn then said very clearly: “I have never had a conversation with AfD MPs. I think the term ‘firewall’ is a good idea, as an image, but there is no cooperation. There is no discussion. We fight them politically and at the same time make an offer to their voters: We want to convince them that the political center has the power to solve the problem.”
The parliamentary group leader’s assessment of the situation: “In every Bundestag speech, I confront radical and extreme groups hard, and out of confidence. Trust has been massively lost over ten years, and has not recovered in weeks and months. Exclusion and demonization alone have not made the AfD smaller. I believe this also includes good governance. Strings of lights alone will not bring down the AfD.”
