by Rosanna Pugliese
Germans are voting on Sunday in an
astonished country. Where in the shadow of the tirades of Donald
Trump and his administration these elections take on enormous
significance, even for the rest of Europe. Social Democrat Olaf
Scholz may be at the end of his political career, while
Friedrich Merz, leader of the Cdu, seems one step away from the
chancellorship. Yet with two days to go before the polls open,
the election agenda has been overwhelmed by the simmering
international crises and fears of a fracture in the
Euro-Atlantic axis. "We are far from a truce in Ukraine," and
therefore from sending troops, assuming there is one, the
chancellor said early in the morning. He then spoke by phone
with Zelensky in the afternoon. Merz, too, reiterated that he
was "shocked" to see the U.S. president embrace the Russian
narrative, and clarified, "It is important that the Europeans
very very quickly find a common strategy."
Begging to sit at the negotiating table on Ukraine is not the
right thing to do, he added. According to the would-be
chancellor, "we must gain weight starting with ourselves." The
unexpected impetuosity of the confrontation with Washington
makes it necessary for moderate parties in Germany to speak with
one voice, in full competition. The climate also remains tense
on the domestic security front. In the evening a man was stabbed
between the steles of the Holocaust Memorial. While in the
afternoon there was news of the arrest of an 18-year-old Chechen
who was planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in the
capital. The arrest took place at the airport because the
suspect was about to leave to join Isis. The Islamic State
itself has appealed to its followers in recent days to follow
the example of the Munich bomber, who a few days ago ran over a
Green Party labor rally with a car, killing a two-year-old girl
and her mother.
"In less than 48 hours the semaphore chapter will definitely
be history," thundered Merz at the evening rally in Oberhausen,
where he also returned to U.S. policy. "We live through a change
of government that will probably give new measures to the world
map," and Germany will have to assume more responsibility in the
EU. For this, economic strength and an end to the recession will
be needed, as well as the "marginalization" of Afd. Looking at
the polls, if the latest surveys suggest the inevitability of a
new three-way coalition (the most quoted is 'Kenya',
black-red-green), one question grips many voters: how much will
the ultra-right take after JD Vance's endorsements? In public,
as in private, predictions go wild. But the stability of the
country is not in question. And that's even if Alice Weidel's
21% rises because of those who do not admit today that they will
vote for her, leader of the party from which even Marine Le Pen
has distanced herself in Europe. According to the latest Forsa
survey numbers, the Cdu-Csu Union would be at 29 percent (but
some see a drop to 28 percent), the Spd at 15, the Greens at 13,
the Linke at 8. The Liberals would enter the Bundestag with 5
percent, while Afd would be at 21.
On the strength of Elon Musk's friendship, and the new Trump
administration's push, Weidel is certainly not toning down.
Interviewed by Morgenmagazine, she said, for example, that the
euro will have to be "divested" anyway: "A currency that has to
be defended is not a currency." And she attacked the bailout
policies of the past decade, calling them "senseless." Tomorrow
will be the last day of campaigning, the Germans have no silence
before the polls: Merz will close in Munich, Scholz in his
Potsdam.
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