Overview
- Following a CDU leadership meeting, Friedrich Merz said the AfD "wants to destroy the CDU" and ruled out working with the party.
- Questioned about his rhetoric, he told a reporter to "ask your daughters" and insisted, "I have nothing to take back."
- Merz referenced a "problem in the cityscape" and said the interior ministry is enabling repatriations "on a very large scale," while claiming a 60% drop in arrivals between August 2024 and August 2025.
- Opposition figures from the Greens and SPD and CDU MEP Dennis Radtke criticized the remarks as stigmatizing, as protests gathered in Berlin and activist Luisa Neubauer urged young women to rally.
- With the AfD the largest opposition party and near 40% in some eastern polls, CDU leaders set out a plan to strengthen presence in the east, develop policy proposals and project a solutions-focused image.