Germany's Political Firewall: Can it Keep Out the AfD? Germany's political landscape has been dominated by a grand coalition between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 2018.
This stable government is under threat from the rising popularity of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has implemented measures to prevent extremist parties from entering government, a system known as the "firewall.
" The AfD's rise began in 2013 when it emerged as a protest movement against the European Central Bank's quantitative easing policy.