Cologne CDU chair Serap Güler announces new approach to AfD

Serap Güler, the CDU district chair in Cologne and State Minister in the Federal Foreign Office, has announced a strategic shift in how the party interacts with the AfD in the Cologne City Council. Güler stated that the party will no longer withdraw its own motions simply to avoid potential agreement from the AfD, describing the previous practice as “suicide out of fear of death.”

She clarified that this is not a breach of the “firewall” or the party’s 2018 resolution against cooperation with the AfD. While the CDU will continue to refuse any formal cooperation or coalitions with the AfD, Güler argued that the party must not sacrifice its own political ideas and proposals to prevent the AfD from supporting them. She noted that the AfD has become less moderate since the original resolution was passed.