German foreign minister: AfD support grows, must defend NATO and Ukraine

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BERLIN — German officials must do more to convince voters of continued support for Ukraine and the country’s commitments to NATO, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday.

NATO is undergoing a “political stress test” both from the external threat posed by Russia and from skepticism at home that had become “visible and tangible” in recent state elections, he said at the conference of German ambassadors in Berlin.

He made a similar appeal over Ukraine, saying Germany would continue to stand by Kyiv and arguing that its support was not only for Ukraine but “for the benefit of our security in Europe.”

The call comes after the AfD won 43.8% in the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt, more than doubling its 2021 result and leaving Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats a distant second at 17.2 %.

Wadephul argued Thursday that the way forward was not to retreat from Germany’s commitments, but to do a better job of explaining why they matter.

He cast the challenge in stark historical terms, invoking the collapse of Germany’s democracy between the two World Wars. “Germany knows from the Weimar Republic what could happen if Democrats are not ready to defend their system,” he said. “We have to show that we have learned our lesson.”

The Weimar Republic, Germany’s first parliamentary democracy, was progressively hollowed out amid economic crisis, political paralysis and growing support for anti-democratic forces before Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933.

As for the results of Sunday’s vote, they were not only the AfD’s strongest-ever showing, but the highest vote share won by any party in the state since German reunification.

During the campaign, AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund repeatedly presented spending abroad as money missing at home. He told regional broadcaster MDR that Germany was “giving away money all over the world” and pointed specifically to support for Kyiv: “Every minute, €20,000 goes to Ukraine. That is all money we are missing.”

That message is feeding into an increasingly uncomfortable guns-versus-butter debate in Berlin, just as Merz’s coalition negotiates the 2027 budget. Germany is set to spend roughly €140 billion on defense next year while facing mounting pressure over pensions, health care and other public services.

The scale of the shift is stark: Defense spending next year will almost match the roughly €145 billion federal contribution to the pension system, according to Kiel Institute calculations. In 2022, Germany spent about €50 billion on defense compared with €115 billion on pensions.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte backed Wadephul’s broader message, telling the ambassadors that Germany’s choices had consequences far beyond its borders.

“I count on every one of you in this room to carry that message with you: that a stronger Germany makes Europe stronger, that a stronger Europe makes NATO stronger,” he said, speaking at the same conference.

Rutte also played down the risk that electoral gains by far-right parties could weaken the alliance. NATO would work with “whoever is elected,” he said, adding that he had “no doubt that the alliance will stay very strong.”