Achim Brötel, President of the German District Council Day (DLT), has publicly appealed to the federal government to end its continuous internal disputes. Speaking to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, he observed that the growth of the AfD is deeply tied to general voter disillusionment with established political parties.
Citing the polling numbers regarding “enemies of democracy and extremists” in states like Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brötel stressed that the government has only one possible path forward: they must stop undermining each other internally. He urged them to form a “democratic covenant”. He described the continued failure to grasp the seriousness of the situation in Berlin as “really difficult to bear” arguing that they must finally act decisively and collectively to reverse the current course.
The urgency of his appeal stems from the AfD’s recent polling success, which surpassed the Union party in the latest “Deutschlandtrend” survey. According to Brötel, the matter at hand is far greater than any single law or party; it concerns the very continuation of the societal structures that previous generations fought to establish. He lamented that when any sensible proposal for a reform-even one that is difficult but urgently necessary-is made public, it is immediately shot down and sabotaged. He warned that if this pattern continues, it will soon be too late.
To halt the AfD’s upward momentum, Brötel advised the federal government to move away from making grand, sweeping pledges. Instead, they must deliver fair and sustainable results, and critically, they must follow through on those commitments. He stressed that while it is natural for political groups to be resistant to giving up any power, they must remember that Germany possesses “one of the best, perhaps even the best social states globally”. His strong conviction is that significant cuts can be made in specific areas without causing total systemic collapse, a point he believes the “vast majority of citizens” share. He concluded by suggesting that drawing political strength from this shared consensus merely requires the collective courage to act. The DLT itself is the national apex association that defends the interests of German districts, including those interests before the federal government.
