CDU's Schulze and AfD's Siegmund clash over migration and energy in Saxony-Anhalt debate

Polls and stakes

Six weeks before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the latest Insa poll puts the AfD at 41 percent and the CDU at 24 percent. Ministerpräsident Sven Schulze, who succeeded Reiner Haseloff at the start of the year, has not narrowed the gap. The 90-minute debate in Magdeburg on Monday evening, organised by Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland and streamed live, was the first extended direct duel between Schulze and AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund. After their one-on-one, the other party candidates joined the discussion.

Migration and the Berlin attack

The debate opened with the recent attack on Berlin's Christopher Street Day. Schulze announced he would put the handling of potential threats on the agenda of the conference of minister-presidents. He spoke of the "whole issue of Islam" and people "who live in our country but do not respect our country." He demanded consequences for dual nationals deemed threats: "I no longer want people to have dual citizenship, German and their own, if they live here as threats." Siegmund countered that Schulze had earlier called for expelling German citizens, a position that mirrors the grounds on which the domestic intelligence agency monitors the AfD. Schulze conceded that citizenship cannot be revoked if it would render a person stateless, and noted the Berlin suspect was German-born with only German citizenship.

German citizenship is currently being thrown out the window, it's being given away.

Siegmund accused Schulze of only demanding action during election campaigns, repeating familiar phrases after each attack. Schulze retorted that the suspect did not belong to the "hundreds of thousands" Siegmund had previously cited.

Energy and Russian gas

On economic policy, Siegmund blamed high energy prices and called for an end to sanctions. He explicitly endorsed importing Russian gas.

We will of course put the issue of ideological energy policy on the agenda, in such a way that we oppose sanctions, for cheap energy, no matter from which country, because we simply have to maintain our competitiveness.

When a moderator asked whether that included gas from Russia, Siegmund replied, "Yes, of course." Schulze emphasised his personal talks with companies like Volkswagen and its suppliers to preserve jobs in the state, and said he was optimistic about offering a positive outlook soon.

Inclusion and education

The debate over inclusive schooling grew heated. Schulze accused the AfD of wanting to end the model of teaching children with and without disabilities together, citing the party's election programme. "What you want to do is select our children, we had that many, many decades ago, I don't want that," he said. Siegmund insisted no one was against a child in a wheelchair, but each child must be assessed individually. "That's why you can't do it blanketly," he said. SPD candidate Armin Willingmann accused Siegmund of obfuscation. On multi-grade learning, Siegmund found rare common ground with the Greens, calling it a variant "before lessons are cancelled entirely."

Other party positions

FDP candidate Lydia Hüskens said the state must clarify how to handle potential threats. Green candidate Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz stressed that queerphobia is the problem, in Islamism as well as right-wing extremism. SPD's Willingmann cautioned against immediately calling for tougher laws while many facts remain unclear. Left party leader Hendrik Lange highlighted the importance of prevention programmes like "Demokratie leben!" Siegmund also argued that the skilled labour shortage cannot be filled from abroad and must be addressed through family policy, prompting Schulze to retort that the AfD lacks a concept for the next five years.