The comments came after U.S. Vice President JD Vance met on Friday with AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, and in the wake of Elon Musk’s endorsement of the far-right German political party last month.
In an apparent shift, Merz also expressed skepticism over a possible coalition with the fiscally-conservative Free Democratic Party, or FDP, which is currently battling to meet the five-percent threshold needed to win seats in the Bundestag.
“I have great doubts about the FDP,” Merz said during the televised debate, which took place ahead of the Feb. 23 election.
Merz didn’t elaborate on his “great doubts” about a coalition with the FDP, but one reason could be the liberals’ unwillingness to relax Germany’s strict spending rules. Over the weekend, Merz once again expressed openness to looking at various financing options to cover an increase in German defense spending, suggesting he’d be willing to loosen fiscal restraints — a policy favored by center-left parties.
“I want to strategically ensure that we have at least two options and only need one,” Merz said in the debate Sunday. Pressed on which two options he meant, he clarified: “Possibly the Social Democrats, possibly the Greens.”
The CDU and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), currently lead the polls at around 30 percent, making Merz the frontrunner to replace SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The AfD is in second at 21 percent.