Overview

• Report Mainz documented CDU–AfD alignments in eastern municipalities, including Wurzen’s decision that imperiled cultural funding, a joint motion in Cottbus on refugee intake, CDU support for an AfD asylum card proposal in Dresden, and recurring overlaps in Bautzen despite the AfD’s classification as firmly right‑wing extremist in Saxony.
• Party leader Friedrich Merz continues to reject any cooperation with the AfD, while CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter calls for consequences for breaches and local figures such as Udo Witschas and Manfred Kolbe question or undercut the firewall.
• New Infratest Dimap data show Merz’s approval down to 27 percent and CDU/CSU and AfD level at 26 percent, with a majority dissatisfied with how democracy functions and a pronounced East–West gap; Saxony‑Anhalt’s Reiner Haseloff warned against further AfD gains.
• At informal EU and wider European meetings in Copenhagen, leaders debated a continent‑wide anti‑drone shield and using frozen Russian assets for a €140 billion Ukraine loan without decisions, as Belgium pressed legal concerns and Merz questioned an EU lead versus NATO and the feasibility of a border‑length ‘drones wall.’
• French authorities confirmed the boarding of a sanctioned tanker linked to the shadow fleet and the arrest of its captain and first officer, with investigators examining a possible link to recent drone incidents near Denmark.