Overview

• At a Saturday event in Meschede, CDU chair and Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed there will be no cooperation with the AfD under his leadership and labeled the party the main opponent.
• The CDU Präsidium is meeting Sunday and Monday in Berlin, reportedly at a discreet Grunewald venue, with Merz and General Secretary Carsten Linnemann set to brief the press on Monday.
• Top CDU/CSU figures including Jens Spahn, Karl-Josef Laumann and Andreas Jung reaffirm the Brandmauer, while ex-officials Peter Tauber and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and some eastern CDU politicians urge a looser approach.
• SPD leader Lars Klingbeil demands an unequivocal no-collaboration pledge as a condition of partnership in government, and the International Auschwitz Committee condemns any notion of working with parties close to extremist ideology.
• Polling shows the AfD at roughly 25–27% nationally and near 40% in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, increasing coalition pressures; Merz dismisses a party-ban route and says the CDU should advance measures it deems right even if the AfD votes for them.