German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday accused the Alternative for Germany of supporting Russia against Germany's interests and advocating anti-migration policies that were tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".
German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz attends a press conference the day after the Saxony-Anhalt state elections in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026. Reuters/Axel Schmidt
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday accused the Alternative for Germany of supporting Russia against Germany's interests and advocating anti-migration policies that were tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".
Merz was addressing the German parliament in the wake of his party's bruising defeat against the AfD, which surged to victory in an election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on an anti-immigration platform last weekend.
The AfD did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously dismissed accusations of extremism as scaremongering and an insult to its voters.
"People with a migration background also work in the skilled trades," Merz said. "If what is being advocated here, namely 'remigration', were to become reality, it would be nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin colour."
Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Ludwig Burger, Matthias Williams
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