Populism

The present chaos in Congress of the motherland of democracy makes us Europeans look with even greater anxiety to the result of next year's presidential election. We may be confronted with an encore of the Trump administration. This means that transatlantic relations will suffer and could even break.

Have we understood at last? The official European road map is to become politically mature, i.e., independent. A block of 450 million Europeans is preparing to stand against China, India, and Russia and become decoupled from the States.

A united democratic Europe will be strong, but are we really united? The results of the recent elections in Slovakia have shown that Europe is politically divided, and Hungary and Poland,  where democratic structures are defied, recently torpedoed a common European policy on immigration.

Democracy is challenged in Germany, too. Our economy is lurching into crisis, insolvencies are piling up, inflation remains high, and more and more people must turn over every euro twice.

77 percent of Germans say the country's conditions cause concern. The issue of unrestrained immigration dominates, but many people are also concerned about the climate and social justice.

In addition, there are too many construction sites in Germany, such as the provision of affordable housing, the lack of digitization, the securing of future pensions, the precarious financial situation of many hospitals, and the shortage of teachers, which threatens the education of our children.

In addition, people suffer from collective frustration after four years of corona and exhaustion from the war in Ukraine.

Those in power are reaping growing anger and contempt, but more and more citizens reject the democratic system outright. Around one-third of the respondents in a recent poll hold völkisch-authoritarian, populist, and conspiracy-believing positions.

Unsurprisingly, in yesterday's state elections in Hesse and Bavaria, Berlin's ruling traffic light coalition got a beating.

Results of the state election in Bavaria (©BZ)

Results of the state election in Hesse (©BZ)

All coalition parties lost, while the right-wing AfD gained considerably, totaling 16 and 18.4% of the votes.

The party, which claims to stand with both feet firmly on the ground of the federal constitution, is being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia. 85 percent of AfD voters accept that the party is considered extreme right-wing in parts, as long as it addresses the correct issues.

But does the AfD also have solutions to Germany's problems mentioned above? Regarding immigration, their sole motto is deportation, deportation, deportation.

Looking at yesterday's election results, Bavarian Ministerpräsident (Governor) Markus Söder* hit the right words, "Protecting our democracy is the biggest challenge we face now." Indeed, democrats must stand together and defend the rule of law, tolerance, and the dignity of the weak.
*His ruling CSU gained 36.4% of the votes

Next Sunday, elections will be held in Poland, and there, too, much is at stake. Moderate former Prime Minister Donald Tusk* is attempting a political comeback in his homeland. However, the ruling national-conservative PiS naturally wants to stay in power. Some of its representatives distance themselves from Europe and are against further support for Ukraine.
*and former president of the European Council

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