Former German chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the idea of a minority government backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), warning that mainstream parties must continue to isolate the anti-immigration party.
Some conservative voices argued there was effectively a majority in Germany for right-wing policies, Scholz said at an event in Hamburg on Tuesday. But such an arrangement was neither reasonable nor acceptable in Germany, he added.
"What is being discussed now ignores history," the Social Democrat said, referring to debate over possible cooperation with the AfD.
Scholz described the AfD as an anti-pluralist party and said other parties, despite their differences, needed to stand together against it. He also warned it was not certain the AfD would relinquish power once in government.
The remarks came after former Schleswig-Holstein premier and Social Democrat Torsten Albig suggested over the weekend that Social Democrats should be open to minority governments tolerated by the AfD.
In comments to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper, Albig said it might even be easier if Social Democrats, as in Denmark, were the first to cooperate with right-wing populists on certain issues driving voters towards them.
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 Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government, made up of his conservative bloc and the Social Democrats.
