ATHENS 

Czech Premier Petr Fiala has expressed concern over victory of the German far-right AfD party in Sunday's regional elections.

“The strengthening of radical and extreme political movements in Germany is not good for Germany, but neither is it good for us,” Fiala said on X on Monday.

Emphasizing that irregular migration is one of the major reasons that led to this state affairs, he said he recognized and warned on the issue years ago.

Maintaining that the issue of irregular migration should be solved at European level, Fiala called for “faster asylum procedures outside the EU, a more effective return policy, stricter controls and more vigorous action against smugglers.

“There is no other way out of this situation,” he said.

The anti-immigrant AfD has won a state election for the first time since World War II. It secured 32.8% of the vote in the state of Thuringia, while the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) came in second with 23.6%.

In Saxony, the AfD also managed to increase its vote share. However, it came in second place behind the Christian Democrats by a slim majority.

Sunday’s vote in the two eastern states was widely seen as a barometer of what voters think about Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s liberal-left coalition government ahead of next year’s federal elections.

Exit polls showed that most voters were concerned about their economic welfare and were demanding stronger measures to stop irregular migration and address domestic security threats.