Berlin’s current Mayor, Kai Wegner, is advocating for a revised approach to managing relations with the AfD party that differs from previous strategies. Speaking to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Wegner stated that the way all levels of government have addressed the AfD over the last few years has not yielded the expected success, insisting, “It is not smart to simply continue in the same manner”. The CDU politician urged everyone to collectively consider “what we can do so as not to strengthen the feeling of exclusion among AfD voters”.
As of now, the Berlin CDU maintains a strict policy of marginalization toward the AfD within the House of Representatives. The party is not represented on the parliamentary presidium, and its candidates for the committee investigating the funding scandal were not elected. Wegner continues to firmly reject any form of substantive cooperation or coalition with the AfD. However, to counter the party’s appeal, he proposed measures such as suspending the CO2 tax, arguing that energy and gasoline “must become affordable in Germany again”.
Looking ahead to the upcoming House of Representatives election, Wegner considers revising public assembly law to be a unique selling point for the CDU. Regarding potential public disorder, he advised the “FAZ” that measures should make it easier for the assembly authority to ban demonstrations when violence threatens public gatherings.
