[HIGHLIGHTS] "This party is xenophobic. This party is anti-Semitic. We have nothing to do with these people."

Merz: "This party is xenophobic. This party is anti-Semitic.

We have nothing to do with these people" Merz blamed the AfD's strength on the weakness of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's traffic light government. Merz backed a proposal by Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer to establish a commission of federal, state and local governments for a new asylum policy. "People in Germany are simply tired of this kind of paternalism," Merz said.