“The CDU chief has had a smooth lead but he must act to halt the march of far-right voters before the general election. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s mercurial conservative opposition chief is the country’s hotly tipped next leader. Whether and how he can extricate his party from the dilemma posed by last weekend’s bombshell state elections will help determine Germany’s democratic health for years to come in the battle to win back voters from the pro-Russian extremes.

In this month’s polls in two former communist states, a far-right force became the strongest party for the first time since the Nazi period in one region, Thuringia, and in the other, Saxony, it finished a very close second behind Merz’s party.

AfD supporters call it undemocratic that the party’s successes don’t result in it joining governments. Cue the dramatic return of another of the most florid political characters of the post-reunification period, former Stalinist Sahra Wagenknecht, whose Kremlin apologist party came in a pivotal third place in both states.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW, after its German initials) has shaken up the political landscape with stances tailored to pick up disaffected voters, particularly in the east, who are still angry about government restrictions during the Covid pandemic, dislike Germany’s arms shipments to Ukraine and are deeply anxious about immigration.

One key area where Merz and Wagenknecht overlap, however, is a hard line on migration – an issue that also plays to the strengths of the far right. Since 2015, when Angela Merkel allowed more than one million people fleeing war and turmoil to enter Germany, immigration has become one of the country’s most divisive political issues.

Many observers say that the AfD, from the sidelines, is calling the tune. That issue, combined with a sense of martyrdom among far-right supporters because their party has been blocked from formal power, could prove to be explosive, said Ursula Münch, director of the Academy for Political Education thinktank in Bavaria.

‘AfD supporters call it undemocratic that the party’s successes don’t result in it joining governments – they consciously overlook that you can vote for an extremist party but can’t expect that it will find coalition partners,’ she said.

‘However, not including the AfD will improve its prospects for the next election. That’s the big dilemma for the other parties.’” (theguardian.com)

“The German establishment is desperately clinging to power in defiance of democracy. Like in France, there is an open and crude effort to deny voters their democratic choice. Over in Saxony, the CDU barely squeaked out a win against the AfD, with results currently showing them both at 31%. There, again, the governing establishment Social Democrats were clobbered, coming in at just 7.5% support.

The anti-establishment left split the vote between Bundestag parliamentarian Sahra Wagenknecht’s brand new BSW coalition (15.6% in Thuringia and 11.5% in Saxony) and Die Linkie, whose collective success suggests that the vote was more about a rejection of the establishment on all sides and only secondarily a right/left ideological one – just like in France.

The idea of electoral losers adamantly working to deny voters their democratic choice seems to be a new trend in Europe as the populist right- and left-wing parties start racking up electoral wins.

Nothing quite screams ‘respect for democracy’ like loading your post up with emojis and telling voters that although you’re pleased that they reduced your establishment left opponents (and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s national governing socialist/green ‘stoplight coalition’) to a rump of 6.5%, you’ll nonetheless still have to do something about the fact that voters relegated you to second place (at 24%) behind the populist, anti-establishment right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 33%.

And that ‘something’ involves finding a way to keep the election’s actual winners away from the steering wheel. How? By making shady back-room deals with some of the other losers.” (rt.com)

“Germany is ‘leaderless and incapable,’ the country’s opposition leader claimed on Tuesday night as he walked out of a key meeting with the government to discuss steps to tighten up border security. Friedrich Merz, the head of the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the talks had failed to come up with concrete steps to control Germany’s borders. He said: ‘The federal government is clearly hopelessly divided internally and cannot agree on effective measures. The federal government is incapable of action and leaderless’.” (telegraph.co.uk)

“With the recent AfD victory in Thuringia and strong showing in Saxony, the German Globalist mainstream parties are in a panic, scrambling to counter the relentless surging of the rightwing forces in the country. And it’s not like they don’t know what’s wrong with their policies and in what way they differ from what the population really wants – they are just not prepared to abandon the Brussels line in favor of some common sense for a change.

But they now have to at least pretend to do it, to try and stop AfD from growing before it’s too late. So now, Germany’s deeply unpopular government has announced plans to impose ‘temporary’ tighter controls at all of the country’s land borders. This comes after an Islamist terrorist stabbed and killed three people, injuring eight more.” (thegatewaypundit.com)

“Geert Wilders vows to copy it for the Netherlands and Hungary welcomes Berlin to the ‘#stopmigration club’. Civil war has broken out in Europe over Germany’s new plans to introduce strict border controls - with populist leaders giving their support for similar measures. Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers, of the Sweden Democrats, told MailOnline that Europe faced challenges securing borders due to the ‘madness’ of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies. But the move risks fracturing Germany’s ‘traffic light coalition’. ‘The problem is not migration. It’s Islamism.’” (dailymail.co.uk)

“Germany’s introduction of strict controls on all its land borders to crack down on migration and ‘Islamist terrorism’ has prompted anger from its European neighbours who are loathe to accept migrants turned away by Berlin. Interior minister Nancy Faeser, of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s struggling Social Democrat party (SPD), yesterday announced that harsher restrictions would be implemented across Germany’s 2,300-mile land border from September 16.

The scheme, which will last six months before review and enable authorities to reject more migrants directly at German borders, represents a significant extension of controls introduced last year on Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

Now, borders with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Austria will also be subject to the restrictions. The German government’s drastic move is the first time that controls have been placed on all of the country’s borders since the creation of the Schengen Area in the 1990s. Many European countries are supportive of more stringent EU-wide border restrictions to curb migration into the bloc. But they are less enthused by Germany’s declaration it will start turning migrants back to neighbouring nations.

Not all of Germany’s EU allies reacted in anger to the announcement, however, with Dutch hard-right politician Geert Wilders praising Berlin’s move and telling reporters ‘the sooner, the better’ when asked about border controls. Both AfD and BSW parties are firm advocates against Germany’s longstanding support of uncontrolled immigration. ‘The failure of Schengen is evident in the increased crime rates, making it clear that changes are needed.’” (dailymail.co.uk)

“Now comes the business of forming new governments. And if parties are to do this without the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), as all have pledged, the new BSW could become a kingmaker.

The success of the BSW shows how few people still trust in the established parties, and how many voters feel let down. The AfD, which has been ‘confirmed as right-wing extremist’ by the domestic intelligence service, has also profited from this sentiment, according to Wagenknecht.

Münch thinks immigration remains the key issue for German voters, and she believes that the BSW has successfully managed to present itself to voters as a non-extremist alternative to the AfD.

‘The BSW can at the moment claim not to be an extremist party,’ she said. ‘It avoids racist rhetoric and has relatively decent main candidates, who have local political experience and federal political experience. I do see a difference with the AfD there.’

The BSW has ruled out forming coalitions with the AfD, but it has called for a less dogmatic approach to the far-right party.

Russia-friendly and anti-NATO. The BSW also attracts voters who are skeptical about Germany’s support for Ukraine — another position that the BSW shares with the AfD and the Left Party.

Wagenknecht has sought to capitalize on anti-American sentiment in the former East. Nevertheless, the BSW appears to have established itself as a significant force, at least in eastern Germany, by filling in gaps and finding voters left behind by the other parties.” (dw.com)

“European politics has seen a spectacular rise in the fortunes of far-right parties in recent years. Six EU countries now have parties in government widely described by experts as hard or far-right - these include Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and the Netherlands. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally had victory snatched from its grasp by tactical voting in July’s parliamentary elections in France, allowing a left-wing coalition to claim the most seats but not a clear majority.

Meanwhile, national elections this year in Austria and Germany could see far-right parties make even more political gains. Elections are also to be held in Sweden in 2026, a country in which the hard-right Swedish Democrats are the second-largest party in parliament and are supporting the centre-moderate executive.” (express.co.uk)

“The former GDR is distancing itself from Western liberalism, reclaiming its heritage and national identity. The recent elections in East Germany reveal something far more profound than a shift in political allegiance – they signal the re-emergence of a deep-seated German spirit that refuses to bow to the decaying influence of Western liberalism. The success of the patriotic party AfD (Alternative for Germany) in the East is proof of the enduring divide between East and West Germany, a divide shaped by vastly different historical experiences and a clash of values.

East Germans have always been more conservative than their Western counterparts, and for good reason. After World War Two, West Germany was placed under the occupation of the Americans, who imposed their liberal ideology on the German people. Over the decades, this ideology has seeped into every corner of West German society, promoting concepts such as a nebulous ‘diversity,’ multiculturalism, LGBT propaganda, and the insane trans cult.

West Germany, inundated by American cultural imperialism, has lost touch with the very essence of what it means to be German, embracing ideologies that are alien to the German soul. It remains occupied in all but name, with numerous American military bases dotting its landscape – a constant reminder that it is not truly sovereign. West Germany’s blind loyalty to America has steered it towards a path of spiritual and cultural ruin.

In contrast, East Germany, under the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Despite what many Western conservatives might believe, the Soviet Union was far from the ‘progressive’ bastion it is often portrayed as. It re-criminalized homosexuality in 1934, dismissed modern art as decadent, and promoted traditional family values – everything that many genuine conservatives in the West today wish their societies would embrace once more.

The GDR adopted many of these conservative principles, becoming the last truly German state – a state that preserved and revived the Prussian ideals of duty, discipline, and national pride.” (rt.com)

“In Britain, record numbers of migrants are not working, costing taxpayers an estimated £8 billion, a report warns today. Official figures show that 1,689,000 non-UK nationals are either unemployed or classed as economically inactive because they are not looking for a job.

They calculate that the total amount of public money attributed to workless migrants – including health, education, transport and housing costs, as well as welfare – could be as high as £20.3 billion. Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said last night: ‘For all the talk of a fiscal “black hole”, the Government seem to be missing the glaringly obvious fact that mass migration is causing economic pandemonium’.” (dailymail.co.uk)

“Stuart Coster says the EU’s agenda was ‘now being contradicted increasingly by voters’ chief concerns’. Germany could sensationally quit the EU if controversial immigration controls unveiled earlier this week end up being reversed at Brussels’s insistence … ‘Germany’s decision is dramatic but unsurprising, given the intense pressures that illegal migration is now placing on countries across the EU, yet it also serves to confirm the EU’s fundamental flaws.’ ‘New controls may be temporary but, once imposed, it’s hard to see when voters will accept their removal.’

That’s when there will be major questions for Germany’s place within the bloc and the future of today’s EU.” (express.co.uk)

“Schengen is enshrined in treaty. No country will propose any changes. Instead, every county will ignore the treaty on grounds of a ‘higher law’. Given there are now higher laws than the EU treaties, I have a question: When does France or Italy say the same thing about budget rules? Such logic could finally spell the end of EU and Eurozone Monetary Union (EMU) rules.” (zerohedge.com)

“An absence of authoritative European leadership is becoming a serious danger to the Continent… Europe is in imminent danger, however, of its economy being left in the dust by America, its security being shattered by Russia and its politics being poisoned by an inability to rise to the challenge of events in Africa. It is time for us British to worry that Europe is in trouble.” (thetimes.com)

24/03/2017: “VATICAN - EU heads of state and government are planning to meet with Pope Francis in Rome on 24 March, ahead of a summit expected to provide a vision for the future of the EU after Brexit, diplomats told EURACTIV.com.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, EU leaders will hold a summit in the Italian capital on 25 March with the hope of creating a new positive vision for the Union, which is faced with multiple crises. But the day before, they will meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat mentioned on Monday (27 February) a possible meeting with the Pope, which in his words would ‘provide leadership that politicians miss’ in the context of the historic date of the Rome anniversary.

‘I do think he [Pope Francis] is the ultimate world leader that within the circumstances has the skills and the vision to say things that transcend the obvious and banalities we all say in politics,’ Muscat said.” (euractiv.com)