Germany’s Merz says his conservatives will not partner with far-right AfD

STUTTGART, Germany, Feb 20 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday vowed to uphold an informal pact within Germany’s political mainstream not to partner with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

“We will not allow these people from the so-called Alternative for Germany to ruin our country,” Merz told fellow members of his conservative CDU at a national party conference in the southwestern city of Stuttgart.

“And that is why I say with full conviction: this party cannot be a partner of the CDU,” Merz said, adding that the AfD must expect a bitter fight by conservatives.

Many Germans are alarmed by the AfD, whose rise evokes parallels with the Nazi Party’s ascent in the 1930s, when authoritarian rule was established through legal means.

Germany’s mainstream parties refuse to work with its lawmakers by giving them influential positions in parliament or forming coalitions. The AfD argues this is undemocratic.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke in Stuttgart and James Mackenzie in Berlin, writing by Friederike Heine, editing by Linda Pasquini and Thomas Seythal)