Migration policy

Wagenkecht: “Merkel is the mother of the AfD”

"We can do it!": Her opening of the border to migrants will forever haunt Angela Merkel.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/AFP/Gregor Fischer, APA/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

An ultimately failed tightening of German asylum policy with the help of the votes of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany has led to an outcry in Germany. Even former Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked CDU leader Friedrich Merz for his cooperation with the AfD. On Wednesday, the 70-year-old renewed her criticism and emphasized that the blue rise was not "my responsibility". BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht vehemently disagrees.

The former left-wing politician called on Merkel on Thursday for "more self-reflection", because: "Without Merkel's refugee policy, the AfD would not have entered the Bundestag in 2017 and would probably no longer exist today." Merkel is the "mother of the AfD and many problems in the country", Wagenknecht said. 

The left-wing populist politician called it right to help people fleeing a civil war. "But Angela Merkel was the first to allow a complete loss of control over migration. Her naive 'We can do it' has failed in the face of reality," emphasized the 55-year-old.

From euro critic to right-wing party
The AfD was founded in 2013 by liberal economic critics of the euro bailout policy, but moved strongly to the right in the years that followed. Before the huge wave of refugees in late summer and fall 2015, which gave it a boost in the polls, it was torn apart and weakened by wing disputes.