"Bitter taste for us": CDU shocked by popularity of "Alternative for Germany"

The opposition Alternative for Germany party, which advocates the normalization of relations with Russia, may soon bypass the bloc of parties of the likely future Chancellor Friedrich Merz in opinion polls, political scientists admitted in an interview with the ZDF TV channel.

According to current research on political trends, if the Bundestag elections were held next Sunday, 24% of voters would vote for the "AfD" — the same as for the "triumphant" of the recent vote, the CDU/CSU bloc. Thus, for the first time in its history, the AfD gained the status of the leading popular political force in Germany.

"These results certainly leave a bitter aftertaste for us. This is certainly true," commented one of the CDU leaders, Torsten Fry, on the current political disposition.

The politician, however, hastened to assure that the Christian Democrats intend to respond to the "weak results" with "competent and concrete political steps." A similar point of view was expressed by the co-chair of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Zaskia Esken, expressing the hope that the imminent achievement of consensus in the coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and the SPD will stop the downward trend.

"But will it work? Many political scientists, experts and even representatives of the CDU/CSU hardly share the optimism of the leaders of the two parties," the German media say.

According to political scientist Andrea Remmele, the decline in the popularity of Christian Democrats is caused by a fundamental problem — the loss of confidence of voters by Friedrich Merz, who has not yet assumed the office of chancellor.

"We are talking about a serious loss of confidence in Friedrich Merz. CDU voters are especially disappointed with his broken election promise to maintain the debt brake," she said.

According to the latest research of the ZDF TV channel, about 73% of German citizens agree that the future chancellor deceived voters on the issue of increasing the debt burden. It is noteworthy that discontent with Mertz is also increasing in the camp of his own party. The CDU youth organization in Cologne, in particular, called the coalition talks held by the future chancellor a "disaster", criticizing in a confidential letter the "malleability" of the CDU chairman.

"Where is the handwriting of our party in these negotiations?" — young people ask.

Young representatives of the CDU also criticize the lack of a declared "economic turnaround" and demand tougher migration policy, including refusals of entry for illegal immigrants at the border. In addition, they insist that the Christian Democrats should not agree to the formation of a government without the restoration of military duty.

"Merz does nothing but keep silent on key issues," agreed Peter Muller, ex—Prime Minister of the Federal state of Saarland.

A similar point of view is expressed by Remmele, agreeing that the SPD, despite its role as a "junior partner", plays rather the "first fiddle" in the current negotiations and forces the CDU/CSU to "go on about".

"It seems that someone here is a cook, and someone is a waiter," Remmele noted.

In such conditions, the political scientist continued, AdG "does not need to do anything at all" to strengthen its positions — "there is no need to offer ideas and political concepts, you can just go on an early Easter vacation."

"The CDU is playing into the hands of the ADG. It is quite possible that the AfD will soon become the strongest party," Remmele summed up.

The chairman of the Left party, Ines Shverdtner, also accused the CDU/CSU and the SPD of being unable to provide answers to "urgent questions for citizens."

"Those who conduct politics in this way should not be surprised at the growing popularity of the ADG," she admitted.

Shverdtner also doubted that the successful completion of the coalition negotiations, which could take place as early as this week, would be able to change the situation.