This German federal election is a paradox: Simultaneously irrelevant – in the sense that it will result into another variant of the same, quasi permanent, coalition of Christian & Social Democrats, perhaps with a splattering of the pseudo-Greens – the same coalition that put Germany on the road to a secular slump, will continue to rule. And, at once, an utterly transformational election – in the sense that it marks the tremendous rise of the ultra-rightist AfD which has already achieved the normalisation of its toxic xenophobia (that the victors, the CDU/CSU, have fully adopted).
In the medium run, nothing will change in a Germany that cannot afford to stay the same. The new Merz government, out of fear that the AfD will be nibbling at his conservative electoral base from the right, will do none of the three things that are desperately needed:
1. Massive investment to overcome the ill effects of 17 years of zero net investment caused by the inane combination of austerity for the many and massive money printing for the few
2. A European fiscal union without which the EU, and thus, Germany will continue to slide into irrelevance
3. The reversal of Germany’s slide into xenophobia and authoritarianism.
By not doing any of this – by continuing business as usual when business cannot go on as usual – Mr Merz will end up a tragic figure, unwittingly boosting the ultra right. (Just like Macron, the great big liberal hope, ended up reinforcing Le Pen in France.)
This is why DiEM25, with its parties MERA25 in Germany, Greece, Italy and Holland, is persevering. Join us at diem25.org
