It looks like the migration crisis is bearing first fruits in Europe. In the regional elections in Germany, the leading party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is losing miserably to its closest political rivals. However, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) almost always took its place. But in these elections to the Bundestag, everything can be different - the right-wing radical party "Alternative for Germany" is gaining ratings and taking the leading places. We will talk about it in more detail later.
Wake up calls in March
In the March 2016 elections in three German states, a shocking event occurred for many European politicians: for the first time, two German party giants, the CDU and the SPD, began to lose to a third power.
Christian Democrats, led by Merkel, lost to the AfD even on their historical land - in Baden-Württemberg.
This speaks of the most serious dissatisfaction with the development vector pursued in the country, since the CDU is the ruling party today. The whole reason is in serious failures inforeign policy, which provoked enormous problems within German society.
Today, a new force comes to the fore - the Alternative for Germany party. In Saxony-Anh alt, it received more than 20 percent, more than doubling the SPD.
The decline of old Europe?
But the problem called "Merkel and the Alternative for Germany" is not only for the Germans. In Europe, there is a change of the "old" system:
- The Christian Democrats of post-war Italy are also gone.
- There are constant political crises in Spain. The traditional center-right "People's Party" and the center-left "Socialist Party" have lost so many seats in recent times that they are no longer able to form a majority coalition. Without the support of alternative parties, such as the Civic Platform, for example, they can no longer make their own decisions.
- The UK Independence Party in the UK is already forcing a rethink of the traditional system in that country. The recent referendum on leaving the European Union speaks of a possible mass support for the party in the future.
- Alternatives to the "old", traditional parties "Five Stars" in Italy, "National Front" in France are also gaining popularity.
- The protest vote in the US presidential election also shows that Americans are unhappy with the current party system.
Thus, the “Alternative for Germany” is not the only phenomenon in the country of developed Europe. The transformation of the old political system is gaining momentum. But we will try to understand the reasons for these processes.
The "Evil Empire" is destroyed - the fighters remain
The reasons for such processes are that the political systems of Western countries were formed taking into account two circumstances:
- External enemy - the Soviet Union.
- Internal - communist threat.
Today, neither the "Empire of Evil" nor the danger of the "red plague" is no more.
But the center-right and center-left party system remained.
Besides this, Western politicians are increasingly moving away from reality. Their course of development is aimed at realizing goals that are incomprehensible to ordinary voters.
Failed policies to combat migrants, active financial support for Greece, Portugal, not accepted by the population, foreign policy of confrontation in the world, economic sanctions against some countries, military intervention and the inability to resolve external conflicts that led to an influx of refugees - all this is not welcomed by the electorate. Year after year, patience seems to be running out.
Europe's conservatives seem to have forgotten about another problem - the far right. The right-wing Alternative for Germany party, which is winning ratings in local territorial parliaments, is a clear proof of this.
"We are ours, we will build a new world"?
But what is the ideological platform of the new political force? What is the attitude of the Alternative for Germany party towards Russia? How canWill bilateral relations between our countries change if this particular party wins the federal elections to the Bundestag? Let's try to figure it out.
A new political force emerged in 2013. Many incorrectly refer to it as the "Alternative" party. Germany was already talking about dissatisfaction with the EU. This is understandable: she almost single-handedly pulled on her shoulders the crisis countries of the EU: Greece, Portugal, some countries of Eastern Europe. But instead of thanks for the economic salvation, the Germans have to hear discontent from these countries. An example is Greece, whose financial assistance gave rise to a speech by Greek politicians who claimed that Germany was obliged to pay reparations to Athens for the Second World War.
The future leader of the Alternative for Germany party, Frauke Petri, heard these sentiments and created an alliance of euroskeptics with like-minded people.
After the creation of a political force, AfD candidates immediately began to fight in the elections to the landtags of the eight states of Germany. The results were quite successful - from 5.5 to 25 percent.
Today, according to opinion polls, it ranks third after the traditional CDU and SPD. But the slogans put forward by the "Alternative for Germany" say that this is only the beginning.
The first slogan is “Islam is not part of Germany”
Tolerance and religious tolerance in Europe led to the fact that many Islamists began to behave like the masters of the country. Mass casesrape by immigrants from the Arab republics, fights, attacks on women with loose hair - not the whole list of those actions that migrants commit. The AfD has made it clear that it is an anti-Islamic party. She considers Sharia norms to be incompatible with the values of Europe.
The second slogan is "Abandoning the euro"
Alternative for Germany is also against the European currency. Party leader Frauke Petri said that if Germany does not stop experimenting with the euro, they intend to seek a referendum on leaving the EU. The recent Brexit on the UK's withdrawal from the Union showed that such calls are not populist at all.
But the AfD is not against Germany's EU membership. On the contrary, it declares its active participation in it, but only within the framework of economic cooperation. There should be no federalization of the EU into a single state following the example of the United States. The political union should turn back into the European Economic Community (EEC), as it was before 1992.
Third slogan - "Limiting party power"
AfD proposes to hold referendums on key issues in Germany. There should be no behind-the-scenes laws that the majority of citizens do not support. It is necessary to change the system of the Bundestag and Landtags, reduce deputies, limit the chancellor's rule to two terms, introduce the institution of elected presidential power.
Slogan four - "Germany must become a member of the UN Security Council"
As for the first three slogans of the AfD, they were related to internal affairsGermany. Although the transformation of the EU into the EEC does not depend on Germany and is populism. This can be seen in the fourth slogan - the desire to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Besides this, foreign policy slogans include such calls as:
- Against the creation of a European army. The call for Germany to leave NATO was not approved by the AfD congress.
- Restoration of general military duty.
- Establishing close relations with Russia as one of the main guarantors of security in the world.
Slogan Five - "Rejection of climate protection"
AfD for the first time publicly announced a massive collusion of European environmentalists and politicians. The climate has been changing throughout human history. Global warming is being replaced by global cooling. These are inevitable processes in nature. Mankind's emissions of carbon dioxide are a drop compared to how much the world's oceans can "throw out" the same gas during periodic climate changes.
AfD calls for environmental protection, but refuses to recognize the 2000 law on renewable energy. According to party leaders, this legal act is an example of a planned economy related to the distribution of resources.
Slogan six - "Return to nuclear energy"
AfD also believes that it was a mistake to abandon nuclear energy. The party intends to restore this resource in case of victory in the elections, as well as to cancel the law on renewable energy and subsidies for wind and solar energy.
Germany: elections. Alternative for Germany improves results
With every electoral process, the party consolidates its own advantage:
- September 2013 - the first elections to the Bundestag. The result is 4.7%.
- May 2014 - elections to the European Parliament. The result is 7.1%.
- Landtag elections - up to 20%.
- Last elections in Berlin - Alternative for Germany leads Merkel's CDU party.
The results of the elections make it clear that the "Alternative for Germany" can make adjustments to the modern political system of Germany. The era of a de facto two-party system in which only two forces - the CDU and the SPD - replace each other in the Bundestag, may end. Today, there is a possibility that the center-left and center-right political forces will be replaced by a right-wing radical party - the Alternative for Germany party. What will happen next in Europe and the world? Nobody knows this today.
