The party with the fastest popularity growth in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is currently the AfD – Alternative fuer Deutschland. Since its founding in 2013, the party has grown to become the second-largest party in the German political landscape today, almost doubling its voter base within the past two years. The AfD’s rise seems a mystery for German mainstream politics. Instead of political solutions, the ruling parties tried a different avenue to stop the opponent’s rise.
Whereas mainstream media and established parties avoided the AfD like the plague at its onset by branding it right out of the gate as “right-wing populist” — AfD’s growth in recent years from only 10.6% in 2021 to 22% in 2023 outpaced all governing parties.
Policies Connecting People’s Pain
While the AfD was for years routinely never invited to partake in political discussions in TV debates when other parties were represented, including those with lower approval ratings than the AfD, Germany’s traditional mainstream parties seem helpless against the AfD’s growing support. A party that has messages for people that the government would rather bury, or refuses to understand. The AfD spells out what many Germans pain.
They advocate for,
- leaving a dysfunctional technocrat EU construct;
- stopping a too-large influx of migrants into Germany and Europe;
- addressing the madness of turning away from nuclear plants to a green ideology utopia;
- speaking about the potentially slow death of Germany’s industry by unaffordable energy and production costs;
- opposed forcing Germans to switch to a government-approved environmentally-friendly heating system;
- pointing out the ineptitude of the current government leadership, particularly economic minister Robert Habeck, a children’s book author with zero economic education.
So, little in fact that during a TV interview, Habeck did not know the meaning and German laws of bankruptcy.
And the AfD is outspoken against the Ukraine war itself. — All points that soothe many German citizens who are worried about the future of the country and have both eyes open versus drowning in green ideology. Voters who see the economic incompetence of a government that German companies have to confront every single day. When you have people in government who have never really worked in another job than politics, it’s not too hard to see why there’s such a disconnect with the voter who has to pay for the government’s utopic dreams and failures.
Mainstream Policies Triggering De-industrialization
In Germany, the government’s policies are now hitting the basis of the very prosperity that once backed the country in the post-world war era.
The President of the German Chamber of Commerce “DIHK” says he is not at all surprised by the huge migrations of German companies abroad as they seek better locations for their production facilities. German companies rated the location Germany as a place of business the worst since 2008, the year of the big financial crisis.
According to the DIHK, 43% of the largest German companies with more than 500 employees are currently either in the process or planning to move their production abroad. Leaders of industrial migrants are the car companies – Germany’s heart and soul – VW, BMW, Mercedes, as well as the auto sub-suppliers.
Many shifted production to the US and are also moving productions to Romania and Poland. E.g. Continental, colloquial “Conti”, a German multinational automotive parts manufacturer is planning to close its German production in 2028. It opened already a mega high-tech factory in Romania’s Timisoara in 2006 and is further expanding production there. ZF Friedrichshafen, a global tech company for supply systems for cars and industrial technology, announced in 2018 to start a new production in Serbia with 1000 employees to produce electric and hybrid motors. In 2022, they began building a second plant in Serbia. Its German plant is set to close at the end of this year. According to company union spokespersons, ZF could cut up to 18,000 jobs by 2030.
The car sector is not the only one: family businesses – the backbone of Germany’s economic miracle post World War — either closed down, sold out, or moved abroad. Such as Miele, a German appliance manufacturer who has been around for 125 years. Smaller companies from beer breweries in business for 130+ years to bakers, and companies in healthcare, plastics, IT, construction, energy and services follow suit.
Germany is in its largest de-industrialization since the end of WWII. Not only is this a tremendous loss of knowledge, resources, prosperity and jobs, but it’s also a complete rewire of the German landscape. Spearheaded by a government in which many in cabinet positions have never worked or completed a professional education.
Of course, for voters that doesn’t spark confidence.
AfD Attracting Support Across Political Spectrum
Not surprisingly, the AfD’s meteoric growth in all parts of Germany makes it no longer a party and message to overlook. Stable at around 19% in the latest polls (with some loss due to recent demonstrations against the “extreme right”), AfD is likely trending upwards again.
While many of their supporters do see some of AfD’s comments as potentially right-wing oriented, AfD voters – who, contrary to media portrayal — come from across the political spectrum, side with the party’s stand on what to them feel obvious:
- Current policies are perceived as not made for but against German citizens;
- Deplete German welfare systems and are economically counterproductive. German elderly who are paid into the retirement system their entire life get paid less in many cases than what migrants receive in monthly support such as free housing and monthly pocket money.
- Policies that are seen as unconstitutional e.g. during the Corona crisis, and the green ideology that is negatively affecting Germany’s prosperity.
Rather than addressing these issues honestly and head-on, taking proactive responsibility and maybe cooking up solutions – mainstream parties don’t want to hear about how ordinary Germans are faring day in, day out.
With only 0.3% projected growth of GDP in 2024, Germany, the engine of Europe has come to a halt.
No longer knowing what to do and how to keep AfD’s growth in check – the German government took drastic measures:
The chancellor himself called upon the population to demonstrate against a political opponent, branding it as standing up against “right-wing extremism”. To date, 800,000 Germans have gone on the street to protest against a portrayed danger from the far-right. Not seeing that protesting against a political party who’s leading in the polls, poses the real danger.
Failure to Understand the Changing Political Reality
AfD has become a feature to stay in Germany’s political landscape. They are represented in
- All 16 German state parliaments,
- The German Bundestag,
- The EU parliament,
- The local government.
Germany’s mid-conservative CDU/CSU is currently the strongest party capturing 31%, followed by the AfD with 19%; the government-leading socialist SPD stands at 15% and the Green Party at 13%. The junior partner of the current government coalition, FDP wouldn’t make it into the German Bundestag at this time, with only 4% as 5% is the minimum threshold for seats.
Because mainstream parties have not found a political recipe to compete with solutions that resonate with German voters’ wants and needs — Germany’s spy queen as she’s dubbed by people on the street, interior minister Nancy Faeser – simply wanted the AfD banned. A dubious understanding of democracy, one could argue.
For weeks, there have been discussions about whether Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) should be banned, due to some far-right comments amidst a mixed pool of voices coming from the entire spectrum left to right. What unites AfD supporters is a common red thread: namely that politics as is is no longer tolerable. For many in the current government, this translates into “right-wing extremist”. Supported by an alleged secret meeting of AfD members in Potsdam with other people, including known extremists, in January this year to supposedly have planned the deportation of migrants.
Germany’s constitution upholds freedom of speech and prohibits banning political parties unless they are found to be anti-constitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court. To be banned requires serious evidence. Mere suspicion, media noise, or political inquisition is not enough.
As of now, AfD is not anti-constitutional by the court. Thus, not been banned. Common sense prevailed. Banning the second-strongest party in the country would have been devastating for democracy.
Nancy Faeser’s response? Another proposal of one-sided measures is to keep an inconvenient opponent in check by tracking people who financially support “right-wing extremists”. In her view, the AfD.
Germany’s government would be better advised to spend more time to come up with solutions, reconnect with German pains, and learn basic economics. At a 17% approval rating, Olaf Scholz, the current chancellor is leading the least popular government since the history of the tracking poll, 1997. And with its economic engine stopping to run, Germany’s outlook is bleak.
What many Western left-wing governments continually overlook is the natural balance of systems in how the world unfolds. Whenever there is a move to the left – there has to be an equal move to the right to bring things back to balance. Balance is a natural law. It affects everyone and everything. It cannot be denied. This is what political leaders fail to understand.
Finding solutions for problems is a result of the resourcefulness of the gifted. Others just use the legal system to ban inconvenient truths.
