# Germany's Firewall Against the Far Right Shows Cracks as Public Support for Cooperation Grows

> The long standing pact among Germany's mainstream parties to shut out the Alternative for Germany is under mounting strain, with fresh polling showing most voters now open to some form of cooperation with the far right party even as Chancellor Friedrich Merz insists the barrier will hold.

- Source: Berlin Today
- Canonical URL: https://berlintoday.eu/article/germany-s-firewall-against-the-far-right-shows-cracks-as-public-support-for-cooperation-grows
- Author: Doug Brown
- Section: Politics
- Published: 2026-08-20T13:17:20.636Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T13:17:20.636Z
- Tags: Germany, AfD, firewall, Brandmauer, Friedrich Merz, CDU, far right, politics

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For more than a decade, Germany's mainstream parties have relied on an informal but firm understanding known as the firewall, or Brandmauer, a shared refusal to form coalitions or work with the Alternative for Germany at any level of government. That consensus is now facing its most serious test yet, as new polling suggests a majority of voters are ready to see it bent or dropped altogether.

A survey published in early August found that most Germans now favor at least some cooperation between the AfD and established parties. Roughly a third of respondents said such decisions should be made case by case, while a further quarter said cooperation should be actively pursued, numbers that would have been hard to imagine when the firewall strategy first took shape.

## A Strategy Under Pressure

The firewall was designed to contain the AfD by denying it any share of power and treating it as fundamentally outside the bounds of normal coalition politics. Critics now argue the approach has done the opposite, coinciding with a decade in which the party's support has climbed steadily rather than faded. Recent surveys put the AfD in the high twenties nationally, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU bloc, which has slipped into the low twenties.

That reversal in the polls has become a rallying point for those inside the conservative movement who believe isolating the AfD has only heightened its appeal as an anti establishment alternative, while denying voters who back it any real influence over policy.

## Cracks Inside the CDU

The pressure is not confined to public opinion. In late July, Saxony's CDU state premier Michael Kretschmer publicly called for an end to his party's blanket refusal to work with the AfD, a move that triggered a sharp internal row and put him at odds with the national leadership.

Merz has so far held the line, repeatedly ruling out any coalition or governing arrangement with the AfD and insisting the party cannot be treated as a normal partner in talks over government. He has framed the firewall as central to protecting the CDU's identity, vowing the party will not be reshaped by the far right's rise.

## Why It Matters

The debate cuts to the heart of how Germany's political establishment responds to a far right party it has spent years trying to keep at arm's length. If public and internal party pressure keeps building, the firewall could become harder to maintain in state governments where coalition math leaves fewer alternatives, even if national leaders continue to reject cooperation outright.

For now, the strategy remains official policy, but the gap between that position and where much of the public and a growing faction within the CDU now stand is becoming difficult to ignore, raising questions about how long the current approach can hold.

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Originally published by Berlin Today. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://berlintoday.eu/article/germany-s-firewall-against-the-far-right-shows-cracks-as-public-support-for-cooperation-grows.