Merz Cancels Trump Call After AfD Wins 44% in Saxony-Anhalt
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Sep 9
Merz Cancels Trump Call After AfD Wins 44% in Saxony-Anhalt
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Sep 9
Summary
A planned Merz-Trump phone call was scrapped after Trump praised the AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt result on Truth Social, with Berlin signaling it viewed the comment as interference in a German election.
In parliament, Merz escalated his response by calling the AfD’s “remigration” agenda a form of ethnic cleansing and warning mass expulsions would cripple hospitals, care homes and skilled trades reliant on immigrant workers.
The clash followed the AfD’s nearly 44% state-election win — the strongest far-right state result in Germany since the Nazi era — though the party still fell three seats short of an absolute majority.
Merz, whose coalition is trailing badly in polls, tried to separate tougher deportations of people without residency rights from the AfD’s broader anti-immigrant push as the party leads nationally on 28% to 29%.