After the state elections – CDU politician calls for substantive debate with AfD – Politics

Bautzen (dpa/sn) – Bautzen CDU state parliament member Marko Schiemann is calling for a stronger political debate on the AfD's issues. “The party has long since mutated from a Euro-critical party to a neoliberal party with extremist beliefs. It is therefore long overdue to have a stronger discussion on the content,” Schiemann told the German Press Agency. The AfD is a political competitor that, in addition to its extremist approaches, must be held accountable for its neoliberal policy priorities. “Because these have nothing to do with the social market economy that the CDU stands for.”

Schiemann warns against pushing the AfD further into the role of martyr and thus driving it towards the voters. He also calls for a political course correction on issues such as inflation, energy policy, migration, combating organized smuggling, health care and the expansion of infrastructure in the new federal states. The feeling of being “left behind” in rural regions must finally be addressed. “Carrying on as before” and sitting out the problems at the federal level must not be allowed. “We still have the chance to organize politics with the citizens.” To do this, the most pressing problems must finally be addressed and solved promptly. This is the only way we can win back the voters.”

Schiemann has been in the state parliament since the first legislative period in 1990, making him the only politician to have served in parliament for all legislative periods. He is considered one of the fathers of the Saxon constitution and served for a long time as the CDU parliamentary group's legal policy spokesman.

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