German opposition leader faces unease over comments on cooperation with far right

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s opposition leader is insisting that there will be no “cooperation” at the local level between his party and the far-right Alternative for Germany after his suggestion that they might somehow work together drew unease within his own conservative bloc. Friedrich Merz’s center-right party has long said it won’t work with Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which has drifted steadily further right. Merz reiterated on Sunday that there would be no cooperation in the national, state or European parliaments with AfD, which recently has surged in polls. But he was more equivocal about the situation at town and county level, after the first AfD candidates recently won local elections in eastern Germany.