The frontrunner to become chancellor has bold plans for economic reform, but a flirtation with the far-right has hurt his campaign

Last week, the CDU broke the mainstream parties' so-called firewall of noncooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as it relied on votes from AfD members in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, to pass a nonbinding vote on tougher border and asylum rules.

Friedrich Merz, the favourite to become Germany's next chancellor, said on Monday that he is ready to lead the country as his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) assembled in Berlin for a party conference weeks ahead of national elections.

Merz drew protests after he put a motion to parliament last week calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders and it passed narrowly because of support from the AfD

Germany's conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz explicitly distanced himself and his party from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an interview with DW.

Conservative frontrunner Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrats has reaffirmed his principled rejection of cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), despite Wednesday's joint approval of a Bundestag motion on migration policy.

The centre-right CDU has been accused of breaking 'taboo' by putting forward a motion to the Bundestag for a stricter migration policy which was backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

Germany's election frontrunner Friedrich Merz on Monday called on his conservative CDU to "stay the course" after mass protests against its acceptance of far-right AfD support for calls to restrict immigration.

Friedrich Merz, nemesis of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, is confident that he will win the upcoming election — despite his latest controversial moves siding with the far right on curbing irregular immigration.