Germany's well-known "firewall" against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is "more than justified," former chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday, as he warned his successor Friedrich Merz against considering a minority government.
In an opinion piece for Die Zeit newspaper, Scholz referenced the 2018 book "How Democracies Die" as he cautioned against allowing the anti-immigrant AfD into power.
"It often starts with a democratic election," Scholz explained. "And then those elected refuse to relinquish power and cement their rule through a host of measures."
The former chancellor, who led Germany between 2021 and early 2025, stressed that it was "reasonable to be wary of whether the AfD, once it has reached the heart of the political executive, would willingly step aside again."
"The firewall is therefore more than justified," he argued.
Now a backbench lawmaker for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Scholz dismissed speculation that Merz's conservatives - made up of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) - could pull out of their coalition with the SPD amid deep disagreements over how to reform the country's social security and pension systems.
"Out of responsibility for Germany, all debates on a CDU/CSU minority government must end immediately," he demanded.
"You can't run a country with the AfD," he added, calling it "an anti-pluralist party that must be kept out of political power for that very reason."
A minority conservative government ruling with tacit support from the far right could soon turn into a coalition, he warned, campaigning for the firewall to be upheld.
The AfD, Germany's largest opposition party, is under investigation by domestic intelligence services for its extremist views, but it has taken a lead in national polling in recent months amid falling support for the coalition parties.
