Germany's Merz: Teaming up with AfD would 'sell the soul' of party

Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), firmly rejected any cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an interview with public broadcaster ARD on Friday evening.

"Let me repeat it here for the record. There will be no cooperation with the CDU in Germany under my leadership," said Merz.

The reasons are clear and obvious, he said. "We will not work with a party that is xenophobic, that is anti-Semitic, that has right-wing extremists in its ranks, that has criminals in its ranks, a party that flirts with Russia and wants to leave NATO and the European Union."

Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is monitoring the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist organization.

Merz's reference to criminals could be aimed at the party's leader in the state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, a far-right firebrand who's well-known in the country for controversial remarks.

He has twice been convicted in court for knowingly using a banned Nazi slogan in speeches.

Merz added of any move to work with the AfD, "If we were to do that, we would sell the soul of the CDU."

When asked whether he could keep this promise, Merz replied: "Yes, I will keep it. I am tying my fate as party chairman of the CDU to this answer."

Friedrich Merz is a front-runner to replace German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the nationwide elections on February 23, following the collapse of Scholz's three-party coalition.