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CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak raised serious allegations against the SPD and the Greens in view of the coalition crisis in Saxony-Anhalt about the increase in broadcasting fees.

"The SPD and the Greens want to break the coalition agreement that they signed on April 24, 2016 and had their state party conferences voted on beforehand," wrote Ziemiak in a guest article for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".

In this, both parties agreed with the CDU to have stable contributions.

Nevertheless, the SPD and the Greens raised a sober factual question about the morally charged fundamental question.

And - "worse still" - both coalition partners would have left a dispute in the democratic middle to the interpretive sovereignty of populists and anti-democrats.

The goal is clear: "They are concerned with nothing more than questioning the Union's credibility in dealing with the AfD."

The three-party alliance in the Magdeburg state parliament threatens to break due to the dispute over the broadcasting fee.

In the coalition agreement, the parties had agreed: “When it comes to financing public service broadcasting, we are sticking to the goal of stable contributions.” An independent commission has determined an additional requirement of 86 cents per month and contribution payer.

The SPD and the Greens want to vote for a corresponding increase.

The CDU is against it - and wants to prevent the increase if necessary with the votes of the AfD, should the coalition partners not switch to the CDU line.

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In his article, Ziemiak warns that it is dangerous to abuse the “system-relevant” public broadcasting service as a stage for this politically transparent attempt.

This is far too important for that.

The dispute over the amount of the radio fee belongs in the middle of the democratic struggle.

Anyone who turns such a dispute into a supposed litmus test for democracy for tactical reasons is acting irresponsibly in terms of state policy: "Anyone who acts like this plays into the hands of the AfD."

At the same time, Ziemiak appealed to the SPD and the Greens to opt for the continued existence of the joint government in Saxony-Anhalt out of “state political responsibility”: “It is now about responsibility and the stability of the coalition.” Among other things, with the offer to withdraw the State Treaty, Prime Minister Rainer Haseloff presented a compromise proposal to stabilize the coalition.


Ziemiak criticized the AfD as a party that was “on the edge of our constitutional order”: “It is the anti-Germany party.

It is the new political home of many neo-Nazis. ”Working with the AfD would be a betrayal of Christian democratic values.

Nothing has changed in this attitude.

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CDU country chief and interior minister Holger Stahlknecht said in an interview that the CDU would continue to govern solely through a minority government, should the coalition break up due to the dispute.

Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff then dismissed him as Minister of the Interior on Friday.

Laschet supports Haseloff

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet has stood behind his colleague Reiner Haseloff and once again has clearly rejected any cooperation with the AfD.

“There must be no cooperation whatsoever with a radical right-wing party.

The AfD can never be a political partner.

There are moments when a clear stance is required, ”said Laschet, who is also the deputy head of the federal CDU and is running for the office of party chairman, on Friday at the request of the dpa.

Laschet emphasized that the Union was “the mainstream people's party of the second German democracy”.

"This includes our firm anchoring in the middle of society with a clear compass of values." There are moments when a clear attitude is required.

Haseloff had “the solidarity and support of the entire German CDU for his course.

The course in the middle was and will remain correct. ”Laschet had previously expressed himself accordingly in“ Bild ”.