574. Germany’s Political Disaster and Can the Lib Dems Fight Back?
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What does the recent German regional election tell us about the future of the CDU and Friedrich Merz?
When Angela Merkel was busy serving over sixteen years as the Chancellor of Germany, her party was the CDU and her constituency base was Mecklenburg-Fort Pommern. At the regional election there at the weekend, the far-right alternative for Deutschland topped the poll, and Merkel's party secured precisely zero seats. The current Chancellor and CDU leader, Friedrich Merz, calls it a disaster. It is also a political earthquake. There was another one in Berlin. Where the hard left De Linka Party topped the poll, driving the CDU out of government there. Germany is the third largest economy in the world, it sits right at the heart of the whole future of the EU and is increasingly central to how Europe funds its own defence.
The AFD and De Linka are existential threats to Germany's membership of the EU and of NATO. So is this just a German domestic story or is it? actually the story that determines what happens to Europe's security and our future.
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Welcome to the Rest of this Politics Question Time with me, Rory Stewart. And me, Alistair Campbell. Range of really interesting questions that have come in. But the ones that are really driving it that we're going to be discussing today are the results in the German elections, where you absolutely understand Germany is going to take us into the hearts of what's happening not just with the far right, but now with the far left in the most important economy and political force in Europe. Then we're going to talk about rural. Britain, much neglected. What's happening with rural affairs? How do we think about rural communities in summer like Britain? We're going to get into the perennial subject of the Lib Dems and what their future could be.
What's the future for centrist parties in Britain? We're going to talk about uh some more fun subjects, whether we could do longer interviews. We're going to talk about languages versus instruments. You're going to touch on the Royal National Lifeboat incident and particularly far-right protests against their. They're escorting migrants. And maybe we'll get on to the question ultimately of hope. And we're starting, Alistair, with a question from our listener, Valentin. Should Merz be replaced as Keir Starmer was? Should Friedrich Merz, the Chancellor of Germany, be replaced? And this, of course, is in the wake of this catastrophic election result in the province of Mecklenburg, West Pomerania.
Yeah.
And how do you say that in German?
Mecklenburg vor Pommern. Well, it's very hard to replace him if he doesn't want to go, because the only way to do it would be to have a vote of confidence, which he loses, and then you would almost certainly be forced into an election, which you would also on these results
clearly lose. And and the results just quickly as an explainer before you do the commentary, AFD. The alternative for Deutschland, the far right party, thirty eight point two percent. SPD, the traditional kind of Labour Party equivalent, thirty five point five percent, and the CDU, which is the traditional Tory equivalent, which is Friedrich Metz's own party, and this is running in Angela Merkel's own state, and she was of course the CDU leader, right?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What does the recent German regional election tell us about the future of the CDU and Friedrich Merz?
0:00–9:42
2
How did the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Die Linke perform in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern and Berlin, and why is it a disaster for the CDU?
9:42–17:38
3
Why is the rise of far‑left and far‑right parties in Germany an existential threat to the EU and NATO?
17:38–27:33
4
What are the challenges facing Britain’s rural communities and how can a “growth in every postcode” agenda help?
27:33–34:24
5
How could the Liberal Democrats use their conference to win over the “middle‑third” flexible voters?
34:24–40:04
6
Why is the Liberal Democrat party struggling to present a clear national vision and what could change that?
40:04–47:47
7
What role do the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and migrant rescues play in the current UK political debate?
47:47–48:13
Speakers
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