There’s an aged saying about Germany from before the First World War that says, “The German is either at your feet or at your throat.” Now Germany has changed a lot since British and French army officers started throwing that nonsense around; Germany has changed dramatically in the relatively few years since my uncle parachuted into the Netherlands in 1944 as part of Operation Market Garden.
Germany is a friendlier place these days. I spent a lot of time there and particularly like Bavaria. I always enjoyed the food, the cordial Bavarian cuisine People, and of course the beer. But Germany is currently going through tough times, and recently so has German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of no confidence in the Bundestag – the German Parliament.
On Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost the vote of no confidence in the Bundestag that he had demanded, paving the way for early elections in Europe’s largest economy in 2025. That could end up being a good thing for Germany and its role in the transatlantic partnership.
The move followed weeks of political disputes following Scholz’s threesome Coalition collapses on November 6, itself the result of more than a year of dysfunction, political war and personal animosity among coalition partners.
On Friday, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: ordered the dissolution of the Bundestag and called for new elections on February 23rd.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier ordered the dissolution of parliament on Friday after the failure of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition and scheduled new elections for February 23rd. He said this was the only way to give the country a stable government capable of addressing its problems.
These problems are significant: economic stagnation, inflation and uncontrolled immigration from third world countries.
Does this sound familiar? The borders have already been drawn and Germany is populist Alternative for Germany The party (Alternative for Germany, AfD) seems to be on the rise. But there is a problem: As a parliamentary system, the Bundestag is dependent on several parties forming coalitions.
The The campaign is already in full swing. Polls show Scholz’s party lagging behind the conservative opposition led by the Union bloc Friedrich Merz. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from the environmentalists and the Greens, the remaining partner in Scholz’s government, is also applying for the top job – although his party is further behind. If recent polls are correct, the next government would likely be led by Merz as chancellor in a coalition with at least one other party.
Key issues include immigration, how to get the flagging economy back on track and how best to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia.
The populist and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is strongly represented in polls, has nominated Alice Weidel Candidate for chancellor, but has no chance of taking office because other parties refuse to work with her.
The AfD has, among other political positions, called for an end to unchecked immigration from the Third World to Germany, and in airy of recent events, this position is becoming increasingly vital in Germany fatherland.
See related: SHOCKING: Beautiful German Christmas markets are being overrun by foreign invaders
Breaking News: Horror at a German Christmas market as a car plows into the crowd at high speed (updated)
Could the AfD win an absolute majority? This would be necessary for them to take control when none of the other parties are willing to work with them. Our two-party system tends to form coalitions before elections. The Republicans in the age of Trump are a coalition of economic populists, petite and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, workers in unions and social conservatives, while the Democrats have assembled a coalition of the dependent class, academics, university students and coastal elites. In most parliamentary systems, each group has (more or less) a party and coalitions form after Choose.
If the AfD cannot achieve an absolute majority and none of the other parties are willing to work with it, a different type of coalition will form and the new government will be able to exclude the AfD. Will there be a cascade of favoritism towards the AfD?
Germany has problems. Immigration is one of these problems; particularly the uncontrolled immigration from the Third World, which has led directly to invasions of established German Christmas markets and even attacks on these markets. The AfD is the loudest voice in Germany for a change to Germany’s current open immigration policy. The Germans are worried, and rightly so.
This will be an engaging election all around, with implications that could reach far beyond Germany.
