The new government of Merz and Germany faces a difficult challenge: an opposition guided by Andd

Since the German parliament building reopened in Berlin in 1999, the second largest meeting room has been occupied by what was often the second largest party in Germany, the Social Democrats.

Even the name of the Chamber, the Otto Wels Hall, bears the print of the party: Wels led the Social Democrats of 1919 to the Nazis to a banned.

Now, after their disastrous performance in the federal elections of February, the Social Democrats can lose the House of the extreme right-wing alternative to Germany, or AfD, which came in second and it says that according to the rules of parliament, the Chamber should get instead.

The fight for the Wels Hall is only one in a series of challenges that the Social Democrats and their senior partners are confronted in the incoming government coalition, the center-right Christian Democrats, while preparing for confronting the AfD.

The most important thing is that they consider how to deal with a party that is both politically toxic and powerful enough to undermine the agenda of the coalition.

Increasing the tensions was a decision on Friday by the German domestic intelligence service Declare the AfD an extremist organization.

And on Tuesday, Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats, was initially two votes to win approval as the new Chancellor of Germany (although he Received enough support later). That stumbling raised questions about his ability to confront the AfD while he and his allies consider whether the German constitutional court is called to ban the right -wing party.

In recent years, the AfD has received support with an anti-establishment campaign and rails against migrants and refugees. In recent months it has been politated alongside the central Christian Democrats of Mr. Merz.

But the actual prohibition of the party would be an extensive legal process. The AfD brought a lawsuit against the intelligence service on Monday, and it will have to be resolved before a formal procedure can begin by parliament and the Constitutional Court.

Those maneuvers mean that in the coming years the prevailing coalition must collaborate with, if not necessarily, the AfD in parliament.

Unlike in the winner-takes-all US Congress, the leading opposition party in Germany, through tradition, usually gets a number of committee chairs and leadership roles that help guide the parliament.

Until Friday’s announcement by the intelligence service, the Christian Democrats were divided between those who wanted to bring a number of roles to the AfD, and those who wanted to put them in quarantine – for example by refusing to work with them on legislation.

Jens Spahn, who leads the Christian Democrats in parliament, argued that the quarantine option would feed the image of the AfD as a victim of a hypocritical institution that only claims to defend democracy – an indictment that repeated the AfD on Friday, Just like Minister of Foreign Affairs Marco Rubio.

“The AfD will continue to defend itself legally against these slips that endanger democracy,” said Alice Weidel and Tino Chupalla, co-presidents of the AfD, in, in An explanation.

But Friday’s decision makes Mr. Spahn’s approach unthinkable for many Christian Democrats, not to mention Social Democrats or the smaller left-wing parties such as the Greens.

Several members of the Christian Democrats immediately called for a ban, and even Mr. Spahn, in A post on social mediawrote: “We will not recommend choosing AFD members as committee chairs.”

For the time being, the coalition and governments of different states are considering other options under the leadership of the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats. The extremist designation can enable them to limit public financing for the AfD; It also opens the possibility to remove AFD members from civil service positions.

But those options come with their own risks, including more legal steps.

And although the AfD has been plotted from any formal role in parliament, the size of it means that it can still cause enormous pain for the coalition – witness the failed first voice for Mr. Merz as Chancellor on Tuesday.

Mr. Merz will rule with a narrow majority of 12 members. This means that every vote will almost require unanimity in a left-right coalition that is more defined by political opportunity than shared agenda.

“The discipline of the government coalition must be very good,” says Johannes Hillje, a German political consultant.

Opportunities for disaster in abundance. The AfD, Mr Hillje suggested, introducing legislation that was copied from the playbook of the Christian Democrats, making it toxic. Or they can peel off members of both parties with changes to Must-Pass.

“They want to make the other parties look stupid,” said Mr. Hillje. “This is the kind of games that they always do.”

Some observers fear that if the parliament settles in a new, uncomfortable normal and gaps inevitably open Under the coalition, the temptation for the Christian Democrats will arise to find ways to work with the AfD – which has similar views on aspects of expenditure and immigration policy.

Much will depend on whether the AfD will continue to grow in the polls and whether it strengthens its control in elections at state level, some of which are planned in the coming year.

Maximilian Steinbeis, founder and editor of PaintsungsblogA website focused on constitutional law said that there was a temptation for the Christian Democrats to take advantage of a right -wing majority.

“This temptation,” he added, “is super powerful.”