“Choose democracy”: Banaszak urges the CDU to open talks with the Left.

Felix Banaszak, co-leader of Germany’s Green Party, is urging the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to reconsider its refusal to cooperate with the Left Party in order to make governing majorities without the AfD possible. He explicitly frames this as a choice “for democracy” and describes potential AfD influence as influence by “anti-democrats and enemies of the constitution.” His concern has a concrete basis: Saxony-Anhalt’s domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD branch in the eastern German state as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization, citing, among other concerns, attacks on human dignity and democratic principles.

That does not mean, however, that Banaszak’s preferred coalition strategy is constitutionally required. Germany’s Basic Law guarantees political parties the right to participate in shaping political opinion, while the Federal Constitutional Court decides whether a party is unconstitutional.

Parties that have not been banned generally retain equal rights in the political process. At the same time, parties are free to decide whom they will cooperate with.

The CDU has for years ruled out cooperation with both the AfD and the Left. Banaszak is therefore advocating a specific political course change: ending the CDU’s refusal to cooperate with the Left while maintaining it toward the AfD.