The United States Vice-President JD Vance has urged Germany's mainstream political parties to drop resistance to cooperating with the far right, hours after Berlin rejected American "meddling" ahead of its election.
"Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters," said Vance in a speech to the Munich Security Conference last 14 February.
"There's no room for firewalls," he added, referring to the long-standing position of Germany's established parties not to work with the far right.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition Christian Democrats and tipped as Germany's next chancellor, was last month accused of breaching this taboo when the far-right Alternative for Germany backed a proposal he put forward to toughen up immigration law.
Earlier, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit criticized similar comments that Vance had made in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Outsiders should not be "meddling in the internal affairs of a friendly country", he said, adding they "may not have a full overview of the political debate" in Germany.
The comments come amidst a German election campaign that has been dominated by immigration and security.
There have been several high-profile attacks blamed on asylum seekers and migrants, prompting the AfD to further intensify its anti-migrant campaigns.
Most recently, an Afghan asylum seeker is suspected of having rammed a car into a crowd in Munich, leaving 36 people wounded.
The AfD looks set for its best ever result of around 20 percent in the election on 23 February, according to current polling.
Merz insists he would not govern with the AfD or actively seek its support.
Vance also told the Wall Street Journal that the threat to European democracy from online disinformation -- including narratives pushed by Russia -- had been overstated.