Germany’s opposition leader faces criticism over his comments on cooperation with the far right

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s opposition leader is insisting that there will be no “cooperation” at the local level between his party and the far-right Alternative for Germany after his apparent suggestion that they might work together caused unease within his own conservative bloc. Friedrich Merz’s center-right party has long said it won’t work with Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which has drifted steadily further right. Merz reiterated on Sunday that there would be no cooperation in the national, state or European parliaments with AfD, which recently has surged in polls. But he was more equivocal about the situation at town and county level, after the first AfD candidates recently won local elections in eastern Germany.