Europsceptics rampant in Germany: Rise of AfD threatens fragile Government coalition

Alternative for Germany leader Jorg Meuthen said the party was the “radiant election winner” of the two ballots in Saxony and Brandenburg. Mainstream politicians in the CDU and SPD continue to lose ground as the right-wing, anti-migration party continues to swell its ranks. AfD’s leadership now sees the party as a “credible and authentic” solution, which could see if replicate Matteo Salvini’s League in being propelled into government coalitions.

The German eurosceptics saw a huge increase in votes, demonstrating a vast display of growing confidence in their policies.

Electoral support rose 17.7 percent in Saxony and 11.3 percent in Brandenburg, two states in eastern Germany.

And now key AfD figures believe the country’s coalition governments will be “more fragile than ever before”.

Jorg Urban, the party’s chairman, said the required CDU, SPD and Green coalition will prove to be “unsustainable” as support for the AfD grows.

In Saxony, Angela Merkel’s CDU are now only five percentage points ahead of AfD, a difficult prospect for her successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to consider.

“It’s a difficult result that I take very seriously,” Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer said of the election.

The SPD, which helps prop up Berlin’s fragile coalition, lost more than five percent of its support in both states.

AfD’s success has put more emphasis on the Green to act as kingmakers in Saxony’s coalition state government.

MUST READ: Germany panic: No deal Brexit terrifies recession-threatened economy

Many voters in eastern Germany are disillusioned with mainstream politics and feel they have been left behind by the richer west since reunification some 30 years ago.

Pieter Cleppe, of Open Europe, said: “Due to the fact that AfD did not finish first, it is now less likely that the SPD will leave Merkel’s coalition, even if it is still possible.

“The results are particularly bad, however, for Merkel’s successor as CDU leader, Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is failing to stop the outflow of voters to AFD, which is consolidating its place in German politics.

“Expect more calls for them to be taken into government coalitions, especially as the SPD and Greens seem keen to govern with the far-left at the federal-level, something that is already happening at state-level.

“This all makes euroscepticsm more mainstream in Germany.”

source: express.co.uk