Alternative für Deutschland’s success in Germany’s regional elections was described as “bitter” and “worrying” by chancellor Olaf Scholz. It is also concerning for the EU, which is grappling with existential problems, from Russia’s grinding war on Ukraine to the climate crisis, while at the beginning of a new five-year cycle after the European elections earlier this summer, The Guardian reports.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, became the first far-right party to win a state election in post-World War II Germany in Thuringia on Sunday under one of its hardest-right figures, Björn Höcke. In neighboring Saxony, it finished only just behind the mainstream center-right Christian Democratic Union, which leads the national opposition. Voters punished the three parties in Scholz’s governing coalition, which took well under 15% of the vote between them.
“A dark day for Germany is a dark day for Europe,” said French centrist MEP leader Valérie Heyer. While the results in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony were not a surprise after the AfD’s strong showing in June’s European parliamentary vote, they confirm the steady rise of parties once considered beyond the pale.
The publication notes that radical and far-right parties are in government, or support the government, in Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden. Austria could soon join that list, with opinion polls showing the far-right Freedom party comfortably ahead before elections on 29 September.
“Meanwhile, France remains stuck in political paralysis, nearly two months after the president, Emmanuel Macron, called snap elections in response to the victory of the far-right National Rally in the European elections. Germany’s coalition government – already seen as underpowered in Brussels – looks set to be even weaker after catastrophic results for all three governing parties in the two eastern states on Sunday.
“While recent election results in Poland and Spain show nationalist and far-right forces can be defeated, the overall picture looks gloomy for the EU,” reads the publication.
Source: The Guardian
