Germany's Merz will push up debt with help of left, says AfD leader

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the second largest party in parliament after Sunday's election, said Germany's likely next chancellor would be held hostage by left-wing parties that would seek to loosen tough fiscal rules.

The AfD's Alice Weidel compared the country's finances to those of a company, saying that the likely new government of conservative leader Friedrich Merz would be forced by left-wing parties into borrowing more.

"(He) won't be able to implement anything that he promised," she said of Merz, a fiscal conservative who has however indicated that he is open to easing Germany's debt brake in order to increase defence spending.

"He will compromise with the left to loosen the debt brake, and that's the opposite of what the country needs... The state should function like a company and when a company is over-indebted you know what happens," she added.

The constitutionally enshrined debt brake limits Germany's structural budget deficit to just 0.35% of national output. Many economists say the strict fiscal rule is hampering efforts to revive Germany's flagging economy, the largest in Europe.

Merz's conservatives, the Social Democrats and Greens failed to gain the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to change the rule. While including the Left Party would make up the numbers, it opposes raising defence spending, which is expected to be a major part of any fiscal boost.

The AfD and the Left both oppose military aid to Ukraine.

The AfD's 20% score marked the first time since World War Two that a far-right party has taken second place in a national election.

ELON MUSK CALLS

Weidel said she had received a congratulatory phone call from Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. Musk was an outspoken supporter of the AfD ahead of Sunday's election, infuriating Germany's mainstream parties.

"When I turned my phone on this morning there were calls from the U.S., including one from Elon Musk, who wanted to congratulate me personally," she said.

The AfD's success means it is time for other parties, in particular Merz's conservatives, to ditch the so-called "fire wall", she said, referring to a consensus among the mainstream parties to exclude the AfD from power.

"This blockade is undemocratic," Weidel said. "You can't simply exclude millions of voters... We have built a strategic basis from which we can overtake the conservatives in coming years, becoming the biggest political force."