Rise of far right in Germany reflects ‘frustration’ with government

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00For some analysis we can speak now to Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.

00:06Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.

00:09Can you first just explain why the AFD is so popular in Eastern Germany?

00:14There are multiple reasons. One is about the frustration with the current federal government.

00:21That's the most cited issue, why people support not only, by the way, the AFD,

00:27she's the far right party, which is likely to win.

00:31But there's also a left wing nationalist party, Sarah Wagenknecht,

00:37who will become second in both countries or in both states.

00:41So more or less, it's about a majority of voters who support this nationalist,

00:47a new way of politics in those states.

00:52And I understand that those parties are particularly popular in the East in particular.

00:57Can you explain kind of some of the reasons?

00:59I mean, why does Germany remain divided due to its World War II legacy?

01:05It's not only World War II. Of course, there are some historical reasons.

01:09But when we look more closely, both parties campaign against a German basic principle of the post-war time,

01:17namely the Western orientation of Germany.

01:22So they are in favor of collaborating or at least finding a peace solution with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

01:31That's one big issue in Eastern Germany. A second is, of course, migration.

01:36And so it's more or less the question about whether more migrants should come to Germany.

01:46And you mentioned that left wing party led by Sarah Wagenknecht.

01:51What can you tell us about them and how they're shaping the political dynamic?

01:55And what is their relationship with the AfD?

01:59If you think about a kind of a two dimensional perspective, you have two nationalist parties.

02:07One on the left hand side, that's Sarah Wagenknecht.

02:10She's a former left wing party leader. And now she has created her own party.

02:17And from one day to another or within eight months, she finds support by about 15 percent of the voters.

02:25That's really surprising. And the topics she is addressing are very similar to those of the AfD,

02:33namely a nationalist way of migration and also more or less a more peaceful collaboration with Russia,

02:44reimporting energy from Russia and also stopping the support, the military support of Ukraine.

02:52And is there any chance that we could see those two parties decide to work together?

02:58That's very unlikely from, let's say, our studies.

03:01We know that this support of both parties is more an emotional support.

03:07So the people really love Sarah Wagenknecht on the one side and also the AfD leader Björn Höcke,

03:14who is a really right wing person on the other side, but they don't like each other.

03:19So and therefore, it's very unlikely that the two will form a coalition.

03:26It's more likely that Sarah Wagenknecht will become decisive in forming a government, at least in Thuringia,

03:32where at the moment, at least we expect that there will no party be able to form the government alone.

03:41And given that expectation that there are going to be negotiations taking place,

03:45I mean, what do you imagine that the new government is going to look like or is there going to be deadlock?

03:50Deadlock not, but we have already in Thuringia, we have a minority coalition.

03:55That would be one solution.

03:57And the other would be that we find a new way, let's say, between Sarah Wagenknecht, the CDU,

04:06and some other party like the SPD that will form a government in Thuringia.

04:11In Saxony, it's a little bit different because there is a very popular CDU minister president.

04:19So it's likely that he will continue to form a government with the SPD and the Greens, perhaps.

04:26All right, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

04:28Thomas Koenig, thank you again so much for your analysis today.

04:31That's Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.

Category

Transcript

Recommended