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Thuringia: CDU and AfD vote together for reduction of real estate transfer tax

Photo: Martin Schutt / dpa

In Thuringia, the CDU, together with the FDP and the AfD, has pushed through a reduction in real estate transfer tax from the opposition. Now there is a hail of criticism because the CDU has voted together with the AfD. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia classifies them as proven right-wing extremist.

The First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, sharply attacks the CDU. "This vote was a very special political taboo break," Mast told SPIEGEL. "It's a bad evening. We are talking about cooperation with the right-wing extremist Höcke-AfD."

It's not about the matter, Mast said. "From the very beginning, planning was carried out with the votes of the AfD. Anyone and everyone who is still talking about a firewall in the CDU is lying to themselves." Mast continued: "What we are experiencing here is a historic failure of the CDU. Friedrich Merz and his CDU executive committee are responsible for this."

Allegations against CDU leader Friedrich Merz

The leadership of the Greens raises the question of whether one can still rely on the word of CDU leader Friedrich Merz. Federal Managing Director Emily Büning said: "With this decision, the CDU Thuringia is taking a further step towards a normalization of legislative cooperation with the AfD, which is classified by the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a secure right-wing extremist."

This is a "drastic shift" that has an impact far beyond the borders of Thuringia. Merz had apparently tolerated this, although he had publicly repeatedly ruled out cooperation between the CDU and the AfD. "Now he has to put up with the question of whether his word still counts," said Büning.

Steffen Dittes, leader of the Left Party parliamentary group in Thuringia, accuses the CDU of forming "design majorities" with the AfD. This is not about a random vote," said Dittes in the Thuringian state parliament in Erfurt. Rather, he sees the opposition's path to forming a "shaping majority" with the AfD. This is an attempt "to shape or govern the country from the opposition with a right-wing extremist party".

Thuringia's CDU leader Voigt defends approach

Thuringia's CDU state party and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt defended his party's actions. "I can't make good, important decisions for the Free State, the relief for families and the economy, dependent on the fact that the wrong people could agree," said Voigt after the adoption of the corresponding law. For him, it is important to convince with content.

Thuringia's AfD parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke was satisfied with the CDU's approach. He said he was glad that the "CDU today had the courage" to "persevere" the bill. The Thuringian AfD is classified and observed by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution as proven right-wing extremist.

The SPD parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt sees the Thuringian tax reduction decision of the opposition CDU with votes from the AfD as a "fall from grace" for democracy. The CDU must stop this course so that Thuringia and Germany are not harmed, demanded the SPD parliamentary group leader in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, Katja Pähle. "It's hard to believe: Just yesterday, the Halle Regional Court allowed the indictment of Thuringia's AfD leader Höcke for the use of banned Nazi vocabulary, and today the CDU is passing a law in the Thuringian state parliament with the same Höcke and his parliamentary group."

»Pact with the Devil«

The CDU initiative had been causing a stir for days. The majority in the Thuringian state parliament is difficult: The red-red-green government coalition of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left) has not had its own majority since 2020 – it lacks four votes.

Before the vote, Ramelow spoke of a "pact with the devil" and offered talks to the CDU. Alternatives to family support, which the CDU aims to achieve with its law to reduce the real estate transfer tax, could be discussed, said Ramelow. There are also constitutional concerns about individual passages in the CDU's draft law, said the Prime Minister.

The CDU, AfD and FDP had already approved the tax cut last week in the Budget Committee, clearing the way for a vote in parliament.

In the run-up to the debate, CDU chairman Friedrich Merz had rejected accusations that his party was making common cause with the AfD. "We do not make what we discuss in the state parliaments as well as in the German Bundestag dependent on other parliamentary groups," Merz said in RTL/ntv's "Frühstart".

PTZ/CTE/DPA