BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the small leftist BSW party joined forces on Wednesday to pass a symbolic motion in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt calling for an end to Berlin’s military support for Ukraine.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s national government is Europe’s biggest supplier of military aid to Kyiv and has repeatedly restated its support, blaming the war on Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The motion was passed on the opening day of the trial in Hamburg of a Ukrainian former military officer charged with blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which supplied Russian gas to Germany. The government in Kyiv has denied any involvement.
The motion has no practical effect, as state parliaments have no role in foreign policy.
But it raised the prospect that the two parties could reach an agreement allowing AfD state leader Ulrich Siegmund to form a government.
BSW WANTS TO WORK WITH AFD
Last month, the AfD secured its biggest victory in an election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, falling just short of a first absolute majority at state level.
Siegmund has said he intends to seek formal parliamentary confirmation as state premier by the end of the year, though most other parties in parliament have ruled out joining a coalition under the so-called “firewall” policy that aims to isolate the AfD.
BSW, which broke away from the far-left Linke party, whose roots reach back to the former East German communist party, does not want to join a formal coalition with the AfD. But it has said it wants to work with the AfD, with which it shares a desire to restore ties with Moscow and stem immigration.
“The firewall has failed,” party founder Sahra Wagenknecht told the news portal t-online. “We will shape policy through shifting majorities and push through as many BSW positions as possible.”
Both the AfD and the BSW have been heavily critical of Germany’s support for Kyiv, saying it was prolonging the war and the money would be better spent at home.
“What has happened over the last few months and years in this war is, alongside uncontrolled migration, one of the biggest problems of our time,” Siegmund said in the debate, which other parties denounced as a “farce”.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie;Editing by Alison Williams)
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