German state elections are in full swing. The far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) party made significant gains in Saxony and Thuringia. Elections in Brandenburg will follow on Sept. 22. The shift to the far right affects local politics in these states, but perhaps beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In September, elections are held in the German states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. Unlike the Dutch provinces, the German states each have their own government and parliament, and determine their own policies in many areas. In addition, the states play a role in national government policy through the Federal Council, which is similar to the Dutch Senate.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn any case, the result does not come as a surprise,\u201d said Marja Verburg, a historian and editor of Germanyweb. The AfD was founded in 2013, as a kind of anti-euro party. For the first few years, the party wasn’t popular. In Germany, parties must meet a 5% electoral threshold to enter parliament. In the summer of 2015, they were at 3% in the polls. But then came the refugee crisis. \u201cThe AfD has been an integral part of the German political landscape ever since. First particularly in East Germany, but now it is also gaining a foothold in the West,\u201d said Verburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AfD is not only known for its anti-immigration policies. The party is also making its mark on the climate debate. For example, climate spokesman Karsten Hilse said\u00a0<\/a>earlier<\/span> that his party \u201cdenies the influence humans have on the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to innovation, the party has taken a protectionist stance, for example when it comes to labor from abroad. While the industry currently needs new workers. \u201cThere are many international companies in East Germany,\u201d Verburg knows. \u201cThink of Tesla in Brandenburg or chip manufacturer TSMC from Taiwan, which is going to build a factory in Dresden. These companies have invested in large factories there, partly because there is cheap land there. You can assume that the governments that are now coming to Saxony and Thuringia will do everything they can to keep those companies. But they do fear that investors will drop out now that the far right is coming to power, especially the startups.\u201d So industry in these states is at a loss. In Thuringia, the AfD has gained enough votes (at 32.8%, it is the largest party) to get in the way when it comes to innovation plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A group of German family businesses launched the \u201cMade in Germany – made by Vielfalt\u201d <\/a>campaign for more diversity, pluralism, and an open society several years ago. After all, business also benefits from this. Bj\u00f6rn H\u00f6cke, the right-wing AfD leader in Thuringia, reacted to the campaign just before the elections. He wished these companies economic problems. But since H\u00f6cke’s statements, on the contrary, many more companies have joined the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n The business community in Germany is concerned. The CEO of a company in Thuringia, Maximator Hydrogen, which is developing hydrogen refueling stations, for example, says<\/a> that the AfD’s critical stance on hydrogen could cause him and his company to leave the state \u201cin the worst case scenario.\u201d \u201cCompanies in Thuringia and Saxony are already finding it harder to get international skilled workers. They don’t want to come there because of the increasing influence of the AfD,\u201d Verburg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the local level, the far right is already making its mark. \u201cBut it must be strange for the AfD to gain so much influence at the national level that it can make a dent in international policy,\u201d Verburg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kornelis Blok, emeritus professor of energy systems analysis at the Delft University of Technology, also has no immediate fear of what the outcome of the state elections means for the climate goals of the Netherlands and Europe. \u201cThe most important agreements on climate have been set at the European level for the next few years and what happens in Germany now has no direct influence on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blok does express concerns about the longer term. \u201cIf a far-right party becomes more popular in Germany, there is a risk that other parties will gradually move toward that as well. It is a sliding scale,\u201d he says. This could affect not only migration policy in Germany but also other important issues such as climate. In the long run, this could even spill over into Germany’s national policy. Subsequently, this political shift could also indirectly affect the Netherlands. \u201cAfter all, neighboring countries look at each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blok firmly looks ahead to 2030. By then, net emissions in Europe must be reduced by 55%<\/a>. Also, from 2035, all new cars sold in the European Union are required to<\/a> be CO2 emission-free<\/a>. \u201cBut at the same time, we are seeing a shift to the far right across Europe. If this trend continues then countries may well dig in their heels in the future when it comes to this kind of green regulation,\u201d he predicts. But it remains pie in the sky. \u201cFor now, the climate train is moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" German state elections are in full swing. The far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) party made significant gains in Saxony and Thuringia. Elections in Brandenburg will follow on Sept. 22. The shift to the far right affects local politics in these states, but perhaps beyond. \u201cIn any case, the result does not come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":506138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84165],"tags":[52463,86228,24186,23480],"location":[6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[81075],"class_list":["post-487840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-duitsland-en","tag-far-right","tag-germany","tag-voting","location-netherlands","article_type-features","reboot-archive-community"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"The shift to the far right affects local politics in Germany, but perhaps beyond.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Elcke Vels","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/elckevels\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/innovationorigins_someones_hand_putting_a_paper_in_the_voting_b_a49a872b-a989-4d89-8a9b-b37a312afee7.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["COMMUNITY<\/a>"],"unlinked":["COMMUNITY<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Duitsland<\/a>","Far right<\/a>","Germany<\/a>","voting<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Duitsland<\/span>","Far right<\/span>","Germany<\/span>","voting<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 20, 2024","modified":"Updated on September 20, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 20, 2024 9:30 am","modified":"Updated on September 20, 2024 9:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1780"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=487840"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=487840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pull to the right in Europe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n