Why the AfD rejoices in Merkel’s candidacy

Angela Merkel’s decision to run for a fourth term as chancellor is a reason for delight for Germany’s right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), writes Jens Schneider in a commentary for Süddeutsche Zeitung, Merkel embodies everything the AfD opposes - from immigration affairs to energy policy - sparking hopes by its chairwoman Frauke Petry that the chancellor’s renewed bid for heading the government “will mobilise supporters” on the right, Schneider writes. With Merkel, a politician who “spearheaded the Energiewende’s collapse” was going to stand for re-election, Schneider quoted Petry as saying. The AfD at times “moves around in its own little world in which climate change does not exist” and regards the Energiewende as unnecessary, Schneider says.

Read the article in German here.

For more information on Germany’s election year and energy transition, see the CLEW dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.