A photo raises questions: Is the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt committed to the firewall?

But whether Schulze wants it or not: the AfD issue cannot be excluded from the golf club. Not only because the party is above 40 percent in the polls less than three months before the election, but also because a photo made the rounds on social media this morning that raises doubts about how serious the CDU is about distancing itself from the AfD.

It was created on Thursday during a panel discussion in Halberstadt. It shows CDU parliamentary group leader Guido Heuer with AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund. Heuer placed his hand on Siegmund’s shoulder. This one laughs. The mood seems relaxed.

According to a report in the “Ostdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”, Heuer ruled out a coalition with the AfD at the event, but also said: “I have never liked the word that we need a firewall.” Instead, the principle “demarcate but do not exclude” applies. When objections arose from the audience, a visibly agitated Heuer replied: “That’s not a firewall. Just stop it!” This can be seen in clips circulating on social media.

This year he doesn’t want to know anything about Kumpanei

At the party conference on Saturday, Heuer walks through the ranks and tells anyone who will listen an alternative story about how the photo came about. He was the last to arrive at the panel discussion and sat in the only remaining free seat – next to Siegmund.

At one point he wanted to contradict the content. But since there were only two microphones, he had to lean over to Siegmund. The whole thing was an act of confrontation, not of camaraderie. He regrets that this impression was created by the picture.

Prime Minister Schulze is trying to moderate the issue. “What I said about the AfD and the Left Party applies. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t overestimate that,” he said to “Welt-TV”.

In his election campaign, he is relying on a clear demarcation from the far-right party. Shortly before the party conference, the photo came at a bad time for him. Also because his stance is by no means uncontroversial within the party.

Some people in the party can imagine working with the AfD

“I estimate that in some district associations it is 50:50 on the fire wall issue,” says a delegate. After the state elections, the CDU could find itself in the situation of having to decide whether to tolerate a minority government supported by the AfD or the Left. An incompatibility decision applies to both. The decision threatens to tear the party apart.

Opinions also differ widely among the delegates at the party conference: While some say that cooperation with the AfD is a no-go, others see the question pragmatically. “We don’t actually need this firewall debate, but there are resolutions from the federal party,” says one. If the CDU and AfD mutually vote for proposals that they find to be correct in terms of content, he doesn’t see that as a problem.

When Jascha Ückert, a party conference delegate from the CDU district association in Harz, saw the photo of Heuer and Siegmund, he grimaced in disbelief. “Well, that’s really, really unfortunate,” he says. “As a professional politician, he must know about the power of images. Something like this must not happen to him.”

Many delegates see things more relaxed. “There is always a human component in politics. We shouldn’t scandalize that,” says one. “Snapshots like this are just happening at the moment,” another said. And someone who was at the event said: “The two of them know each other from the state parliament.”

The photo is an accelerant for the debate that Prime Minister Schulze absolutely wants to prevent until election day. Despite such disruption, he was optimistic on Saturday that he could still turn the mood in the country around. He relies on his personal popularity ratings, which are slightly better than those of AfD man Siegmund. “I am convinced that people elect people,” he said in his speech.