Merz criticizes the US for supporting the AfD and announces an "explanatory" conversation with Trump

Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz has criticized the US administration's support for the German far-right party Alternative for Germany. In a interview with ZDF TV on May 6, he said he intends to have an "explanatory phone conversation" with US President Donald Trump .

"On Thursday (May 8), I will speak on the phone with the American president. I have not met Trump personally yet, but I intend to speak with him frankly," the new chancellor said.

Merz said that the White House was spreading "absurd views" about Germany and called on the United States to "stay as far away as possible" from German domestic politics. He stressed that he himself had never interfered in an American election campaign or taken sides.

The chancellor also recalled that the US had criticized the decision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to recognize the far-right AfD party as a right-wing extremist. He also said that he had previously been under the impression that the US knew how to distinguish between extremist parties and those in the political center.

"I would like to urge the U.S. government to leave matters of German domestic politics alone and to stay away from party political assessments as much as possible," Merz said .

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• On May 2, Germany's domestic intelligence service classified the AfD as an extremist organization that threatens German democracy. The German Left Party announced its intention to make every effort to initiate a ban on the AfD On May 2, Marco Rubio criticized the recognition of the far-right AfD as extremist. According to him, the authorities have new powers to monitor the opposition [email protected] .