Talks with the AfD: Wagenknecht wants to tear brand wall on the AfD

BSW boss Sahra Wagenknecht is open to political discussions with the AfD also at the federal level. There is currently no existing, that is a phantom discussion, said the chairman of the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance of the German Press Agency. “But if you ask me if I would also talk to Mr. Chrupalla if there was a specific reason for how it was in Thuringia when talking to the group leader: yes, of course.” This met with criticism from other parties.

AfD boss Tino Chrupalla had previously supported contacts to the BSW at the federal level. When asked whether he and the co-chair Alice Weidel would be available for discussions with Wagenknecht, he told the broadcaster World TV: “Yes, so always.” There are even discussions with the BSW: “About what moves Germany and how to change majorities.”

In Thuringia, the chairman of the BSW parliamentary group, Frank Augsten, spoke to the AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke on Wednesday. The occasion was a blockade in the occupation of important judicial bodies in the state. According to both sides, the general state policy was also discussed.

The AfD state association is classified as secure right-wing extremist by the state constitutional protection. Höcke is one of the spokesman of the extreme right in the AfD. The BSW rules in Thuringia in a coalition with the CDU and SPD. The Social Democrats advised further meetings.

Chrupalla, on the other hand, said in the “World” interview: “This is absolutely correct and above all also in citizens' interest. The citizens have chosen this here.” The AfD is by far the strongest strength in Thuringia and is excluded by the other parties.

BSW boss Wagenknecht has been calling for a long time to deal more openly with the AfD and also to participate in governments. Talks should be “normal in a democracy,” she said. “The AfD is currently chosen by more than every fifth voter. Exclusion and speech bans are undemocratic and a slap in the face for these voters, which they only bind to the AfD.” The AfD had made the policy of the fire wall stronger.

Union, SPD, Greens and Leftists, on the other hand, keep the AfD's positions and goals with their own to be incompatible and do not want political cooperation. There were no majorities for AfD candidates for the AfD candidates for the position of a Bundestag.

Politicians from the CDU, CSU, SPD, Greens and Left were critical of the contacts of BSW and AfD in the “Rheinische Post” and in the “Stern”. The SPD politician Dirk Wiese spoke of an “ominous alliance”.

The perhaps the sharpest reaction came from the left, especially since Wagenknecht was a party member until 2023. Left-wing parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek said in Berlin: “You don't talk to a secure right-wing party, you don't work with them-not even if you disappear in insignificance and just want to get into the press again.”

Wagenknecht was asked about a possible coalition of the BSW with the AfD on the weekend of the state election in Saxony-Anhalt in 2026. She also said: “We are a young party who will also move into a parliament in Saxony-Anhalt for the first time. We would be crazy if we would now go into a coalition with a party like the AfD as a junior partner.” The differences to the AfD are also very great on social issues, she said on Sunday.

However, some topics of both parties also overlap. In election campaigns, the BSW promised a “consistent peace policy” and a “stop of uncontrolled migration” points that the AfD also occupies.

The BSW in the European Parliament had recently announced that they would vote together with the extreme right for a vote of no confidence against EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The AfD also signals support for this vote of no confidence.

The BSW has not been represented in the Bundestag since the election in February. The young party had failed at 4.981 percent of the five percent hurdle. Any discussions of both sides would therefore have no meaning for majority relationships in the current Bundestag.