For the first time in Germany, the AfD has won a district council election, administrators announced on Sunday.
Voters in the central German town of Sonneberg elected AfD candidate Robert Sesselmann at the expense of incumbent district administrator Jürgen Köpper of the CDU.
In the runoff election in the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, Sesselmann won 52.8% of the vote, earning him the necessary absolute majority, according to election officials.
Germans are exasperated with the establishment parties.
Is populism making a comeback in Germany? ‘I’m worried’, said chancellor Olaf Scholz, after recent opinion polls showed soaring support for the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. The latest polls predict the AfD winning between 18 per cent and 19 per cent of a hypothetical vote. That puts the AfD on a par with – or even ahead of – Scholz’s ruling Social Democrats (SPD).
Germany’s mainstream parties are stuck in an old ideology
During a press conference in March, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that the green transition will lead to growth rates last seen during the economic miracle of the 1950s. During that decade, the West German economy grew by 8% per annum, outperforming all of Europe and most of the world. As we now know, at the time of Scholz’s speech the economy was already in recession, and based on current forecasts Germany could well be the only G7 nation with a contracting economy this year.
The far-right Alternative for Germany is flying high, reaching 18% support in two nationwide polls. The party is sharpening its profile by attacking the Green Party’s climate policies.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been in an uproar for weeks. According to the opposition party, the policies of the federal government are not only failing, but a threat to peace and prosperity.
The far-right party positions itself for confrontation in almost all areas of policy: When it comes to the war in Ukraine, the AfD calls for peace negotiations instead of weapons deliveries. For migration, the party advocates tightening the borders instead of recruiting skilled workers.
Above all, the far-right populist party portrays itself as an aggressive opponent to the government’s energy and climate policy.
The Right-wing party has become an unwanted kingmaker in Germany
From gay officials to net-zero proposals, Berlin has often been a bellwether for wider trends in Germany. The election of a new conservative mayor on Thursday — the first in more than two decades — might well be an indicator of how the country is governed going forward.
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has reclassified the far-right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) youth wing as an extremist entity that threatens democracy, it said on Wednesday.
The domestic spy agency began monitoring the Young Alternatives organization for suspected extremism in 2019, but it will now be monitored as a confirmed case of right-wing extremism.
It said the the group “propagates a racial concept of society based on basic biologistic assumptions.”
The people who arranged a lunchtime meeting between three Conservative MPs and controversial far-right German politician Christine Anderson are disputing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s claim that the Canadian legislators went into the gathering with no knowledge of Ms. Anderson’s views.
The two organizers of the meeting, Stacey Kauder and Bethan Nodwell, also say Mr. Poilievre has shown a lack of respect for the many Canadians who turned out for the other events they arranged with Ms. Anderson, which included speaking engagements in several Canadian cities last week.
The de-escalatory, anti-war position taken by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party appears to have struck a chord with the German population. The latest opinion survey revealed that the party’s support has climbed to a record high, surpassing that of the hawkish Green party led by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Soaring energy prices and rising unemployment is driving voters to the Right
“Bring an extra jumper, we can’t afford to heat the house properly this year,” was my aunt’s cheerful advice when I told her I’d drop by on my annual Christmas visit to Germany. She lives in Thuringia, in the former East of the country. Like her, many people there are deeply concerned about the coming winter — the mood has reached a tipping point, which is spilling into politics.
Rejecting legal challenge, ruling finds that anti-Islam, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany can be classified as a suspected threat to democracy
FRANKFURT, Germany — A German court ruled Tuesday that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) can be classified as a suspected threat to democracy, paving the way for the domestic intelligence agency to spy on the opposition party.
The court said it had dismissed a legal challenge brought by the AfD last March that delayed plans by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) to put the party under surveillance.
The AfD has taken its most Eurosceptic line yet. That’s good news for democracy.
Could the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) be about to make history? Before the AfD’s party conference had even ended last Sunday, the term ‘Dexit’ – short for a German exit from the EU – was circulating in the press. The reason is the AfD’s programme for September’s elections: ‘We consider a withdrawal of Germany from the European Union and the establishment of a new European Economic and Interest Community necessary’, it says – a demand which has caused more than a little stir.
Members of Germany’s largest opposition party have voted on their new election manifesto. The far-right Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) will run on an anti-lockdown, anti-immigration and anti-EU platform, under the slogan “Germany. But normal.”
The so-called “Dexit” policy emerged at a two-day conference to firm up its strategy ahead of Germany’s general election in September.
Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) have placed the Alternative for Germany (AfD) under surveillance, according to local media.
That designation gives state agents more powers for surveillance in certain circumstances, including potentially tapping the party’s communications.
The BfV refused to comment on media reports from Der Spiegel magazine, the DPA news agency and public broadcaster ARD. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the BfV, said it would neither confirm nor deny them.
A pattern emerges…
France bans far-right group Generation Identity
The French government on Wednesday agreed to ban the far-right group Generation Identity, saying the organization incited “discrimination, hatred and violence.”
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted the decree to ban GI on Twitter, saying it took into account the group’s “structure and military organization,” adding that GI can be regarded “as having the character of a private militia.”
Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has filed two lawsuits against the nation’s domestic security service that is reportedly about to designate it a “suspected” extremist group ahead of national elections.
The party has filed two legal complaints and two emergency motions against the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – a domestic security agency known as BfV – the German dpa news agency reported. The move followed a series of media reports suggesting that BfV could formally declare the whole party a suspected extremist organization.
