05-08-2025
German centre-right MP faces backlash over meeting with far-right leader in Hungary
BERLIN – Saskia Ludwig, a Christian Democrat MP, has been rebuked by her party after she was pictured in a friendly conversation with far-right leader Alice Weidel during an event affiliated with Hungary's Viktor Orbán.
The incident cast doubt on the commitment to the so-called 'firewall' among parts of the Christian Democrats (CDU) – a long-standing policy of non-cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The pictures that emerged on Saturday showed Ludwig talking to and shaking hands with the AfD's co-chair, Weidel, when both attended MCC Feszt in Hungary.
A mix of a music festival and a conference, the annual event is hosted by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), an educational institution close to Hungary's authoritarian right and spearheaded by Balazs Orbán, a key Orbán ally.
'Ludwig did not participate in the event on behalf of the parliamentary party and without the knowledge of the leadership,' a spokeswoman of the CDU parliamentary party told German newspaper Tagesspiegel on Monday.
She noted that the CDU had officially passed an 'incompatibility resolution', which prohibits any cooperation with the AfD and binds 'every CDU member."
Ludwig had defended her conversation with Weidel over the weekend, saying she naturally "engaged in dialogue with a wide variety of visitors." 'Free exchange of opinions is a central element of a democratic society,' she told the right-wing news outlet Nius . The incident taps into a wider conversation about the future of the firewall among the CDU, however.
The party's parliamentary leader, Jens Spahn, made headlines earlier this year when he suggested that AfD MPs should be elected to parliamentary positions that they have been conventionally excluded from, even though they are normally distributed evenly among all parties.
He retracted the comments after the far right was classified as "extremist" by Germany's domestic secret service, a designation that remains caught up in legal proceedings.
Ludwig had also criticised the firewall as 'deeply undemocratic' ahead of the German elections in February. She discussed the matter at a panel at MCC Feszt, according to German newspaper FAZ .
Hailing from the AfD stronghold of Brandenburg in former East Germany, Ludwig has long been known for rubbing shoulders with the right.
She was, notably, among the most outspoken critics of Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, a jurist with liberal views on abortion, whom the CDU-led coalition government had picked to fill an empty slot at the country's constitutional court.
Brosius-Gersdorf's nomination remains in limbo, after several CDU MPs petitioned the leadership to drop her, following a broad right-wing campaign against her.
