Days after the far-right AfD scored its best-ever result in a German state election, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and AfD co-leader Alice Weidel clashed bitterly in parliament over migration, Ukraine, energy and the economy.

Merz went further than before, likening the AfD's so-called "remigration" policy to ethnic cleansing.

DW Chief Political Editor Michaela Küfner examines Merz's increasingly combative approach, and what it could mean for his party in the regional elections ahead.