Hurrah! Germany Has a Government Again

I am glad it is not the AfD in the chancellor seat.

It is great news that Germany now has a government. Friedrich Merz (CDU) is the new German chancellor and he received congratulations from many leaders around the world, including Ukraine's Zelensky, China’s Xi, India’s Modi, and Mark Rutte of NATO.

It was around 6 months ago that the last government collapsed. Lacking a majority after the treasurer Christian Linder (FDP) was pushed out by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the government has been an interim one. In the meantime the world around us has been in chaos with the reelection and return of Trump to the White House.

I have to admit that I was on the edge of my seat and very worried when Friedrich Merz (CDU) did not win the first time around in the German Bundestag yesterday. He was 6 votes short of those needed to have a majority. It was my understanding that if he did not win in a second or third round, it would be open to all members of the Bundestag to throw in their hat for the position for another vote, and then the person with the most votes would be appointed by the German president, Frank Walter Steinmeier as chancellor. Fortunately, he had an 18 vote lead in the second round of votes. Clearly those who had abstained either saw the danger, or were made to see it before the second vote later in the day.

Since I had just read that the AfD pulled ahead of the CDU/CSU union in some polls, I was worried that we would end up having Alice Weidel as our chancellor and a party that the Intelligence Branch of the German Constitutional Court had just told us was a threat to the constitution and an extremist right wing party. I am glad that they finally released their report saying this. Bullet dodged.

Frankly speaking, why should the AfD exist at all in a country whose constitution says that no parties are allowed that do not follow the rules of democracy enshrined in the German Basic Law and Constitution? This is something that Germany did to fascist proof its government after ending the Holocaust only when the allies defeated Germany in WW2 and liberated the concentration camps. People in Germany who support democracy often have signs on their doors that say, “Never Again Means Now!” While I like that sign, I have one on my door from Democrats Abroad that says, “Resist.”

The day before I had received a petition from the German platform similar to Move On in the US, that is called Campact, asking the assumed CDU/CSU-SPD government to draft a request for the courts to ban the AfD from existing. The AfD is already appealing the findings of the over 1000 page document. However, I wonder if this petition did not help people to decide to support the AfD, just because they wanted to show that the government cannot get rid of a group that is so popular. The AfD is depicting itself as the picked on underdog, just as Trump has done in the USA over his criminal actions. I have zero sympathy for the AfD, and agree to disagree with friends that do not think the party should be outlawed. We both want them gone, but they want to wish that it will happen naturally, and I feel that if the German law says that parties which are a threat to the democracy of the country, because they have big enough numbers to win are illegal, then it should be enforced.

When I was growing up I learned that the Nazi party was an illegal party in Germany. Then, in 2013 there was suddenly the AfD. I don’t know how seriously it was taken in the beginning because I was not living in Germany at the time. It started as a party that was against Germany being part of the EU. It is very nationalistic as populist parties tend to be. Still, in 2013, they had 4.7% of the vote, which was under the 5% necessary to be included in the Bundestag. So, it was still considered a fringe party then.

Next the AfD started embracing anti-immigration rhetoric, which is sweeping across Europe. When Europeans say they don’t want “irregular immigration,” what they mainly seem to mean is not helping black and brown skinned refugees from African and Asian impoverished and war torn countries, countries whose economies were manipulated and often destroyed by European colonization in the 18 and 1900s. Europe continues to have a White Supremacist ethos that is in many ways stronger than the one in the USA, although many of their countries colonized these same countries in Africa, and Asia. Germany certainly jumped in on the division of Africa in the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. These European countries also benefited from the slave labor in the US, which helped to build our country and make it wealthy, so we could give them money to rebuild after WW2, through the Marshall Plan.

So, although I did not vote for the CDU, I am glad that it is leading and in a coalition with the more left leaning SPD, rather than the second placed AfD. Now Friedrich Merz is the new Bundeskanzler, and the agreed upon people have taken office from his party (CDU), his union party the Bavarian CSU and their coalition party (SPD). Merz will visit France and Poland’s leaders before coming to the US to deal with Donald Trump.

Merz, is starting off unpopular because Germany is increasingly polarized between those who want to return to the gas guzzling past and those who support a greener future? By forming a coalition with a democratic party (SPD) the CDU conceded on points that the Young Union and other members of the CDU did not like. It is amazing how conservative the youth is. Is this because they do not feel connected to Germany’s Nazi past the way that older people do? These fiscal conservatives did not want to bail out social programs with the huge borrowing that has been improved. Many in the CDU and the more conservative CSU wanted to see social programs cut to finance the military, which everyone except the AfD, and Die Linke the Left, agree needs to be supported.

The conservatives also wanted to see a more aggressive immigration policy. They were pretty much in lock step with the AfD, but drew the line at deporting German citizens with brown skin like myself. The AfD has been saying that Germans who cannot fit in should be deported too. I would say, they are talking about themselves more than people that look like me. The compromise is a policy that neither side likes. Checking people at Germany’s borders as a regular action, instead of an emergency one, will slow everyone down unnecessarily, and take away the free travel advantages to being in the European Union. It will also stop families from coming to join their family members in Germany. The idea will be then to earn money and go back to your home country. Of course, that will also mean that the immigrant workers will send money home, and it will not go into the German economy. It will lessen the diversity of schools, and all around make Germany a less attractive country to migrate too. It is not good for business.

Still because governments form coalitions here, and the SPD is more liberal than the CDU the final immigration bill is toned down from the full on AfD immigration plans. Now the AfD will use this as leverage to eat away at the CDU/CSU Union’s support. All of the dual citizens like myself are grateful as well, that for right now, Germany is not going to forbid dual citizenship, which both my daughter and I have grown up with.

I regret that too many Germans are willing to be given simple solutions to their problems. I had always thought that it was good that Germany could provide a good life to people who did not want to go to University, but now I see that there is a failure to teach critical thinking in the education that too many people are getting in Germany. It is not effective in supporting a democracy. We also find that in communities with fewer immigrants there is more hostility to immigrants, which will repeat if Germany expels immigrants. Germany continues to need new ideas to help erase those that the Nazi party and the DDR promoted. We also want people to be more tech savvy, and less susceptible to German, Russian, US and other right-wing propaganda.

In addition to the immigration pressure, people are eager for the stagnant German business climate to improve. I hope that Germany pulls away from its dependence on exports that are no longer competitive such as the auto industry and invests in the future. I don’t know what will happen. Lars Klingbeil (SPD) is both vice-Chancellor and Minister of Finance. Will he fund a forward looking Germany, and make sure that there is money for green initiatives? I know that the railroads are supposed to get a big chunk of the money that is going to be borrowed. Under the outgoing leadership, the Economy and Environment were together under one Ministry. This new administration separates the two Environment back on its own.

Katherina Reiche is the new Economic Minister. She is the former head of an energy company. It seems to be a conflict of interest, but is probably one reason why the Environmental and the Economic Ministries were separated. Reiche is also the chair of The National Hydrogen Council, a route to Germany’s green energy future which my physicist husband feels is a bad one, because hydrogen is so energy intensive to produce. We would like to see greater support for geothermal energy.

There is a new Ministry of Digitization and Modernization, led by Karsten Wildberger. I hope he works closely with Karin Prien, Minister of Education and Family Affairs, because Germany would certainly benefit from modernizing its education system. In 2025 it seems that 33.3% of 25-64 year olds have university degrees. This requires more examination, but I believe Germany will need more well educated people to fulfill many of the jobs now and in the future.

Only one minister from yesterday’s government stays in charge of his Ministry. I am glad to see Boris Pistorius (SPD) will continue to be the Defense Minister. Germany needs continuity to help rebuild the military, which was ignored after WW2, a welcome relief to the rest of the world. Germany would benefit from continuity in its other ministries as well. It will take time for the new leaders to adjust, and the people working in the ministries to adjust to a new leadership direction. At least knowledgeable people are not being fired. That is a plus.

There are many challenges ahead, but I am going to be optimistic about Germany’s new government. I am hoping that as Germans see the destruction of Donald Trump’s actions on the lives of Americans and the world, they are less eager to replicate that be electing the AfD. I am prepared to do my part to make this new government work. I will continue to support democratic initiatives, and keep myself informed on local politics. I will probably also continue to write German politicians with suggestions and questions. Balancing my German and my American political selves is a work in progress. My daughter is learning to meld these identities as well. We will be celebrating the the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2 tomorrow. In the fall we will celebrate the reunification of Germany on October 3, called der Tag der Deutschen Einheit. We will be celebrating the Fourth of July this year as well, with hopefulness for the promise of America.

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