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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has clashed with AfD leader Alice Weidel in parliament, calling her party a “destructive force” with a migration policy that amounts to “ethnic cleansing” for skilled workers.<\/b><\/p>\n
Merz was addressing the Bundestag in the aftermath of the anti-immigration party’s sweeping victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt where it won almost 44% of the vote, while the chancellor’s conservatives saw their vote halved.<\/p>\n
Weidel told MPs that voters had shown that Merz’s coalition with the centre left was a total failure and his time was up.<\/p>\n
Merz hit back saying the AfD had harmed German interests by backing Russia, and its “remigration” policy would affect millions.<\/p>\n
It is not yet clear whether the party will be able to form a government or not in Saxony-Anhalt, having fallen three seats short of an outright majority. No far-right party has won power in any of Germany’s 16 states since World War Two, and Merz has admitted the “seismic” result has changed Germany.<\/p>\n
The AfD’s success has been praised by US President Donald Trump, who said “the Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night”, linking the victory to “absolutely horrible immigration rules and regulations”.<\/p>\n
The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has been labelled as “right-wing extremist” by German domestic intelligence and the party has promised a “deportation and remigration” offensive targeting irregular migrants.<\/p>\n
Trump had been due to speak by phone to the German chancellor on Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks in the US, but the government spokesman in Berlin said the call had been postponed without saying why. No new date has been set.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n