Overview
- Unionsfraktionschef Jens Spahn ruled out any talks or cooperation with the AfD, calling it “Putin-aligned” and describing its conduct in the Bundestag as “betrayal of the fatherland.”
- Spahn cast the CDU as a bulwark against the AfD, saying in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia it is the only force holding the party back.
- In the same ntv interview, Spahn said he expects the coalition to reach a pension agreement by year’s end despite ongoing disputes.
- The cabinet’s draft keeps the reference pension level at 48% through 2031 and then about one percentage point above current law thereafter, a point contested by some in the coalition and the CDU’s youth wing.
- At a citizens’ event in Brandenburg, former chancellor Olaf Scholz called the AfD antidemocratic, compared its exclusionary rhetoric to historic dangers and noted its scrutiny by the domestic intelligence service.