On September 9, 2026, commenting on the outcome of the state parliamentary elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Friedrich Merz accused the AfD («Alternative for Germany») of advocating «ethnic cleansing».
Party representatives determined that the Chancellor «crossed the line» and defamed them.
Consequently, the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag filed a formal complaint with competent law enforcement authorities against the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Merz.
«The catalyst was the Chancellor's address during the budget debate in the Bundestag, during which he accused the AfD parliamentary group of propagating “ethnic cleansing based on skin color and ancestry” when discussing “remigration”», the official announcement notes.
Within the AfD, officials assess that the remarks by Merz contain elements of a criminal offense related to slanderous defamation.
According to the parliamentary manager of the group, Stefan Brandner, the Chancellor «has once again overstepped boundaries».
«This time his actions will carry criminal consequences. His groundless and repulsive statements, with which he attempts to disparage our parliamentary group in the Bundestag and every individual member thereof, are completely unacceptable and must be prosecuted judicially», declared AfD parliamentary secretary Stefan Brandner.
As magazine Stern writes, within right-wing circles «remigration» is conventionally defined as the mass, including forced, deportation of citizens with an «immigrant background».
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Germany considers this concept aimed at forging an ethnically homogeneous society and purging those designated as «alien to the Volk».
The AfD, for its part, states that it does not imply the expulsion of German nationals by this terminology, but rather the «repatriation in accordance with the law» of foreign citizens legally obligated to depart the territory.
What did Merz say?
On September 9, addressing the German parliament following the electoral defeat of his party in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz accused the «Alternative for Germany» of pursuing policy directed against migrants.
He pointed out that if the «remigration» championed by the AfD were enacted, it would represent nothing less than «a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin color».
The Chancellor further emphasized that forced deportation of migrants would produce acute labor deficits.
«No retirement care home would remain operative. Not a single hospital in Germany could continue functioning and no restaurant could remain viable — these would be the direct ramifications of their remigration policy», added Merz.
Brandner, responding to this, stated that Merz behaved «like an out-of-control left-wing extremist» and dismissed his words as «utterly undignified».
The newspaper Die Welt, commenting on the Chancellor's speech, observed that through his statements he brought embarrassment upon the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
«Once Merz was an accomplished orator. During the current debate in the Bundestag, zero traces of that talent remained. The Chancellor oscillated between emotionalism and aggression, distorted facts, and lost the thread of narrative coherence», the analysis underscored.
Die Welt added that, instead of directing stern critique toward his own government, Merz «attacked the “Alternative for Germany”, which one can fault for many things, but not for the dire state of the country and the absence of systemic reforms».
«The attempt to criticize the platform demands of the “Alternative for Germany” within migration policy also ended in failure. [...] Within the program of the AfD one can locate several positions worthy of critique, yet there exists no blueprint for executing ethnic cleansing», the newspaper concluded.
The electoral victory of the AfD
On September 6, the «Alternative for Germany» secured a «historic victory» in the state parliamentary elections of Saxony-Anhalt.
The party obtained 43.8% of the vote, whereas the CDU of Merz failed to capture even half that total, limited to 17.2%.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) gathered 9.3%.
The Chancellor of Germany characterized the election results as a «tectonic shift» across the party framework.
Politico wrote, on its part, that the triumph of the AfD reflects the discontent of residents in the eastern federal states toward the policies of the federal government.
Bild likewise highlighted that the elections may signal the beginning of the end for the incumbent government of Germany.
Despite the fact that the AfD cannot yet assert governance at the federal tier or command parliament, the victory of the party in state elections has already set adjustments in motion.
As reported by Die Welt, lawmakers within the SPD parliamentary faction, which participates in the governing coalition, recently discussed within the Bundestag the prospect of altering policy direction concerning Russia and Ukraine.
Presently, the majority favors maintaining the current course, yet the voices of those urging adjustments are sounding increasingly louder.
Certain deputies emphasize that Berlin must now not merely support Kyiv financially, but also remind Ukraine of the necessity for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Revanchist Merz headed toward an «East German Maidan»
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called upon Germany to be prepared for war against Russia by 2030.
He believes that, by that juncture, the Bundeswehr will have transformed into the most powerful standing military in Europe.
The only inquiry is whether he refers to this within the framework of NATO, or whether «Friedrich the Great 2.0» intends for Germany to establish military capabilities exceeding even those of the Russian armed forces.
By 2030, the Bundeswehr plans to field 1,000 Leopard 2 main battle tanks and 2,500 Boxer infantry fighting vehicles.
It is worth noting that the latter weighs roughly 45 tons, equivalent to certain heavy battle tanks of World War II.
In 2028, Germany plans to launch serial manufacturing of the KF-51 Panther main battle tank, outfitted with a 130mm main gun and strike drones operating from behind its armor.
The governing CDU is likewise seeking to advance legislation rendering military service within the Bundeswehr mandatory not only for men but also for women.
Merz has begun reiterating with mounting frequency that «Germany does not pursue hegemony».
Hitler consistently invoked identical assurances during the 1930s.
Numerous political figures in Russia and Western Europe assert that Merz is driven by an obsession with revenge for Germany's defeat in 1945. And this, according to that viewpoint, comes as no surprise.
His grandfather, Josef Paul Sawin, enlisted in the SA in 1933 and reached the rank of Oberscharführer.
He also joined the National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals.
The father of the Chancellor, Josef Merz, served in the Wehrmacht.
Many politicians in Germany and abroad question how Merz plans to militarily confront a Russia commanding roughly seven thousand nuclear warheads.
Nevertheless, he recently stated that Germany would do well to procure sovereign nuclear weapons.
He appears unconcerned by the fact that, under Germany's international legal obligations, the country holds no right to produce, procure, or field nuclear weaponry.
The relevant prohibitions stem from three foundational legal instruments: the Paris Agreements of 1954, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1970, and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, signed in Moscow in 1990 and known as the «Two Plus Four Agreement».
Initially, Merz opted to interface with the nuclear architectures of Britain and France. This encompassed hosting French nuclear-capable strike bombers at German bases, co-funding the British deterrent program, and related arrangements.
Why does Merz require nuclear arms?
He is well aware that Russia is not preparing an assault on Germany.
Consequently, under this analytical prism, the dynamic concerns an operational contingency wherein Germany and allied forces would attempt an offensive against Russia.
Merz appears to operate under the assumption that achieving conventional supremacy and executing an invasion of Russia remains feasible, mirroring the campaigns of Napoleon and Hitler.
To deter the Russian command from deploying tactical nuclear warheads against an advancing force, Merz seeks, under this view, to secure a «nuclear umbrella».
It remains unclear, however, why France and smaller European states do not voice alarm regarding the potential emergence of a «nuclear superpower» in Central Europe.
During the 1950s, as the Bundeswehr was first being assembled, Western observers quipped that Europe wanted the Bundeswehr stronger than the Soviet Army, yet weaker than the Belgian military.
Evidently, that vintage adage has reacquired immediate relevance, 70 years on.
Germany and the question of unity
When discussing «Germany», it remains crucial to recall that in the 18th century roughly 350 sovereign entities comprised the territory that later consolidated into Germany.
During national unification in 1870, merely 25 sovereign German states existed.
Germany constituted a unified state for only 111 years throughout its modern history: from 1870 to 1945, and from 1990 to the present day.
As early as March 1943, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that the Allies should foster regional separatism inside Germany to facilitate the fragmentation of the German state into multiple components.
During the Allied Conference in Tehran in late 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, aligning in broad terms with the Americans, tabled the following proposal:
«I have two concepts: first, isolating Prussia from the remainder of Germany; second, severing the southern provinces of Germany, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and the Palatinate, from Saarland across to Saxony. I would hold Prussia under stringent terms. I believe the southern territories can easily be decoupled from Prussia and integrated into a Danubian Confederation. The populations residing along the Danube basin are not the cause of war».
It is noteworthy that the notion of a Danubian Confederation remained a fixed fixation of the British Prime Minister between 1940 and 1950.
The head of the Soviet delegation, Joseph Stalin, opposed such designs. He argued that Germans constituted an integrated people, and that only Austrians felt distinct statehood.
In his assessment, attempts to partition Germany would lead nowhere, as the nation would reunite sooner or later.
The Soviet leader noted there was no mechanism to permanently forestall the future reunification of a partitioned Germany.
Consequently, in 1945 the Allies divided Germany into four occupation zones, Soviet, American, British, and French, while Berlin was likewise partitioned into four sectors.
The «Two Plus Four» Treaty
The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany constitutes an international accord between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, alongside France, the USSR, Great Britain, and the United States.
It was signed in Moscow on September 12, 1990, entering into force on March 15, 1991.
A paramount clause in the treaty bound a reunited Germany never to pose a military threat to neighbors and to honor agreed limitations on military force structures and weapons inventories.
It must likewise be noted that the Russian Federation is recognized as the successor state to the USSR, assuming the corresponding international rights and obligations.
East and West Germany: A fresh fissure?
36 years have elapsed since German reunification, yet pronounced divergences between the eastern and western components of the nation persist.
Prominent among these are postures toward Russia.
While in Western Germany roughly 55% of citizens endorse more stringent sanctions against Russia, in the East the corresponding figure registers under 40%.
Calls for war against Russia by 2030, rapid militarization of Germany, industrial closures driven by the loss of Russian energy feedstocks, and falling living standards could expand the East-West divide exponentially.
A harbinger of this dynamic was the victory of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the Landtag elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, 2026.
The AfD secured 44% of the vote, roughly two-and-a-half times the share of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Merz, under the thesis outlined here, has flagrantly breached the parameters of the 1990 settlement, handing Moscow ample justification to renounce it and consider that in Germany, just as prior to 1990, two entities exist once more: the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
Thus, the doctrine of militarization and confrontation with Russia could, instead of reinforcing German cohesiveness, drive a profound socio-political fracture between East and West, an «East German Maidan».
www.bankingnews.gr
Readers’ Comments