• Thuringia.The elected leader with support from the extreme right resigns and opens the way for new elections
  • Wide Angle: Angela Merkel's sunset plunges Germany and Europe into uncertainty

The political earthquake in Thuringia caused an extraordinary meeting this Saturday between the partners of the great German coalition. Angela Merkel's conservative bloc and SPD social democrats agreed to hold new regional elections "soon" to settle a crisis that threatened to expand rapidly beyond the small eastern 'land'. "Now it is about returning stability and the clear lines of doing politics in Thuringia," both sides proclaimed in a joint statement.

The Chancellery in Berlin was the scene of the first high-level meeting to address the consequences of the rupture of the "sanitary cordon" to the extreme right, a fact that has altered national politics and strained relations between government partners in Berlin.

Thomas Kemmerich, regional leader of the Liberal Party who on Wednesday was proclaimed regional president with the votes of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the ultra-right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), announced his resignation with immediate effect , materializing a decision he had already advanced in previous days.

Both the SPD Social Democratic Party - which was to form a minority government until AfD entered the scene - and the post-communists of the Left bet from the beginning on new regional elections. An option that until now had tried to avoid the CDU, which could be seriously punished for its collusion with AfD. The ultra party is led in Thuringia by Björn Höcke, representative of the most radical wing of the party and investigated by the body responsible for ensuring the Constitution for its possible neo-Nazi links.

Clarify the ambiguous position of conservatives

The meeting this Saturday has also served to clarify the ambiguous position of the conservatives. The president of the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrembauer , AKK, is in the eye of the hurricane because of the warmth with which she reacted to the pact, directly or indirectly, at the local level with the ultra-rightists. He is blamed for a lack of authority that contrasts with the resounding message of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who referred to the local pact as an "unforgivable" fact and "a bad day for democracy."

In an effort to rebuild that "sanitary cordon , " the foreign minister dismissed a member of his government and his own conservative party, Christian Hirte, on Saturday because he congratulated Kemmerich on Twitter. Hirte is the regional vice president of the CDU in Thuringia and coordinated German federal policy in the regional states of the former GDR, a region economically more delayed than the rest of the country. He also served as secretary of state in the Ministry of Economy and Energy.

This is the second casualty in the CDU of Thuringia, after Friday the head of the conservatives in this federated state, Mike Möhring, announced that in May he would leave his duties. He was the one who supervised the vote of the deputies of the CDU of Thuringia when they elected the new regional leader.

The case of Thuringia has again uncovered latent tensions within the CDU. Certain members of the most conservative wing of the party are favorable to collaborate with AfD, something that from the direction of the party they refuse to allow. The different sensibilities suggest that Merkel's relief will be complicated. Many consider that AKK, which is called to be the successor of Angela Merkel as a heavyweight of German conservatism, did not live up to the circumstances in the Thuringian crisis.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Angela Merkel
  • Berlin
  • Germany

GermanyThe election of the president of Thuringia with the votes of the far right unleashes a political tsunami

European Union Germany and Austria are willing to modify the EU Treaties if the departure from the United Kingdom makes it necessary

GermanyCompetitions in Thuringia: the elected leader with support from the extreme right resigns and opens the way for new elections