German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has once more vowed that his conservative CDU/CSU alliance would distance itself "clearly and explicitly" from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of five state elections next year. "We will now also be very clear and very explicit about where the AfD stands in terms of content, and we will distance ourselves from them very clearly and explicitly," he said after a party conference in Berlin. He also once more stressed that his party would not cooperate with the AfD — under the so-called firewall — despite the far-right party's strong presence in both the federal and some state legislatures, which would facilitate the passing of some bills put forward by mainstream parties. "This party has declared its intention to destroy the CDU. It wants a different country," Merz said. "It is not just details that separate us. We are separated from the AfD by fundamental issues and fundamental political convictions," he added. Referring to the AfD's regular offers to cooperate, Merz said "the hand that the AfD repeatedly extends is in reality a hand that wants to destroy us." The AfD received a record 20.8% of the vote at February general elections and is polling at around 40% in the two former communist East German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Some of its branches have been declared right-wing extremist by German intelligence services, while a move to reclassify the whole AfD as such is currently on hold pending a court decision on a lawsuit brought by the party. State elections will be held in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Württtemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin in 2026.