{"id":725537,"date":"2026-01-28T03:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725537\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T03:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T03:41:10","slug":"merzs-conservatives-push-to-stop-far-right-surge-in-germanys-east-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725537\/","title":{"rendered":"Merz\u2019s conservatives push to stop far-right surge in Germany\u2019s east \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AfD leaders are in particular zeroing in on the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, seeing in that largely rural part of the country their clearest path to real power, with <a href=\"https:\/\/dawum.de\/Sachsen-Anhalt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">polls showing<\/a> the party at nearly 40 percent support there. It was in this state that veteran conservative premier Reiner Haseloff stepped down on Tuesday, handing the reins to party colleague Sven Schulze, the conservatives\u2019 lead candidate in the state ahead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesrat.de\/EN\/organisation-en\/laender-en\/wahltermine-en\/wahltermine-en-node.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an election there set for Sept. 6<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Schulze<strong> <\/strong>is set to be elected as the new premier by the state\u2019s parliament on Wednesday. The move is intended to boost Schulze\u2019s profile ahead of the vote and amounts to a do-or-die tactical push on the part of the conservatives to curb the AfD\u2019s rapid rise. If the AfD wins an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in Saxony-Anhalt in September \u2014 a result that is within reach for the party \u2014 it would mark the first time since the rise of the Nazis that a far-right party has amassed that kind of governing power in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative leaders are depicting the political stakes as momentous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEither Sven Schulze becomes premier, or we\u2019ll have a different country,\u201d Haseloff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdr.de\/nachrichten\/sachsen-anhalt\/landespolitik\/haseloff-ministerpraesident-magdeburg-intel-wahlen-rueckblick-100.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said after announcing his decision to step down<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear whether Schulze\u2019s stint as premier ahead of the September election will provide a boost to the CDU, now polling second with about 26 percent support in the state. The politician, 46, formerly worked in sales for a mechanical engineering company, and depicts himself as a practical politician with the kind of tangible business experience needed to boost the local economy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"673\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/12819443-1024x673.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7839924\"  \/>For Friedrich Merz, clear AfD victories in Saxony-Anhalt and beyond during his tenure would represent a major embarrassment. | Pool Photo by Michael Kappeler via EPA <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe next few months should not just be about election campaigns,\u201d Schulze recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_Td1Gu0ARYA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told Germany\u2019s Bild tabloid<\/a>, \u00a0a sister publication of POLITICO\u00a0in the Axel Springer Group. \u201cThis government \u2014 led by me as state premier \u2014 must also deliver results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AfD leaders are in particular zeroing in on the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, seeing in that largely&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[33,2000,299,1105,1945,11070,1824,6657,48,216100],"class_list":{"0":"post-725537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-elections","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-far-right","12":"tag-friedrich-merz","13":"tag-german-politics","14":"tag-germany","15":"tag-migration","16":"tag-rights","17":"tag-sven-schulze"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115970656319043665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}