Thuringia: Maier: alliances with AfD endanger democracy

Erfurt (dpa/th) - Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier has sharply criticized the CDU for voting in parliament together with the AfD.

Thuringia: Maier: alliances with AfD endanger democracy

Erfurt (dpa/th) - Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier has sharply criticized the CDU for voting in parliament together with the AfD. The CDU willingly enters into alliances with the AfD, or at least accepts them, said Maier on Monday at an SPD public debate with around 140 participants in Erfurt. This is "highly dangerous for democracy". The 55-year-old, who is also interior minister in Thuringia, regrets that no new stability pact with the CDU has succeeded in securing a majority in the state parliament.

The governing coalition of Left, SPD and Greens does not have a majority in parliament in Bavaria and is dependent on four votes from the opposition when passing laws. In recent years, however, majorities have repeatedly been formed from the opposition - with the help of the AfD. Most recently, the CDU, AfD and FDP jointly passed a law for the first time, which dealt with the regulation of arcades.

With a view to the election in Berlin, Maier said that Thuringia had to take evidence that this election provided and draw the right conclusions from it. In Berlin there was great frustration with politics. "Now this frustration has hit Franziska, who is least responsible for it, because she simply didn't have time to tackle these things."