Scholz attacks far-right AfD at start of parliamentary debate

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attacked the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in opening remarks to parliament on Wednesday, vowing that his government would "do everything in its power" to stop them.

Scholz called recent election results in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia - where the AfD surged to make historic gains - "depressing."

In Thuringia, the AfD claimed a clear victory, the first for a far-right party in a statewide election in Germany since the Nazi era. In Saxony, the AfD took a very close second behind the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU).

The state-level AfD parties in both states are being monitored as known far-right extremist groups by domestic intelligence agencies.

"We will never get used to it," Scholz said of the far-right gains on Wednesday at the start of a general debate in parliament that is expected to see him square off against CDU leader Friedrich Merz.

Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), as well as his coalition partners the Greens and the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP), all saw support slide in those state elections.

He accused the AfD of being "married" to the past with "yesterday's view of humanity," and seeking to deprive Germany of a good future.

Voters in the eastern German state of Brandenburg will elect a new state parliament on September 22. Scholz's SPD has long led the government in the state, but is currently trailing the AfD in the polls.

Scholz's constituency is in Potsdam, Brandenburg's state capital, and his wife, Britta Ernst, was an SPD minister in the state government until resigning last year.