Germany’s mainstream parties have presented their programmes for the upcoming national elections in February, promising subsidies, tax breaks, an economic upswing, and a tougher stance on immigration.
But voters will have little to be excited about: the establishment parties vying for their attention have all been participants of the governments that have ruled Germany for the past decade or so, and German citizens will hardly forget their contribution to the country’s economic decline, the admittance of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants into the country, and the rise in crime.
Following the collapse of the latest coalition due to internal squabbles over an array of policy differences, the forthcoming snap elections, due to take place on February 23rd,will probably be won by the current opposition CDU/CSU centre-right alliance. According to the latest polls, it is on course to win 31.5% of the votes, meaning it will be able to form a government.
At a press conference on Tuesday, December 17th, CDU chief Friedrich Merz and his Bavarian sister party counterpart, Markus Söder of the CSU, criticised both the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens—participants in the outgoing government—calling them “embarrassing” and “incompetent.”
However, the centre-right will probably have to rely on at least one of these parties to be able to put together a coalition, as their most natural ally, the liberal FDP, may not even make it into the parliament (it is hovering around the 5% threshold in polls), and they have refused to cooperate with the right-wing, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) who are polling in second place at 19.5%.
The CDU/CSU leaders wanted to emphasise the point that they would be tough on immigration—in contrast with their predecessor, Angela Merkel—and promised to turn back illegal migrants at the border, enable deportations to Syria and Afghanistan by declaring them safe countries of origin, and outsource asylum procedures to third countries.
However, Merz acknowledged that Germany’s economic recovery is the alliance’s top priority. His party has proposed extensive financial relief for companies and citizens, promising, among other things, to cut the corporate tax to attract businesses to keep investing in the country.
Germany has been suffering from economic stagnation, high inflation, and rising energy prices, while its heavyweight industries, such as car manufacturing, have suffered a lack of investment over the years, and are facing stiff competition from global powerhouses such as China.
The centre-right will continue its support for Ukraine and will re-introduce compulsory military service. The CDU/CSU under Merz has become one of the most hawkish parties in Europe, and Merz believes they “must become the guarantors of peace and freedom.” He has promised to send long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv—something that the current chancellor, the SPD’s Olaf Scholz has refused, as he doesn’t want to provoke Moscow.
Holding a press conference on the same day, Olaf Scholz talked little about immigration, even though it is one of the hottest topics in the country, especially after a wave of knife crimes this year—committed mostly by migrants.
The chancellor boasted that his government has halved asylum applications in recent months, but this will come as no comfort to voters as there have still been more than 230,000 asylum applications handed in this year, and that 62% of all planned deportations are not being carried out.
Scholz—whose party is sitting in third place at 16.5%—focused instead on the economy, and talked about the necessity to save jobs, save pensions, and to increase the minimum hourly wage to €15. The Social Democrats have proposed to incentivise private investment and modernise infrastructure with an off-budget €100 billion fund. The party also plans to reward purchases of German-made electric cars, and Scholz has called for a “moderate reform” of the debt brake—which limits government borrowing to 0.35% of GDP—in order to increase investments in defence.
Meanwhile, the Greens also want to reform the debt brake to allow for higher public spending. Their election programme includes a tax incentive for “small and medium incomes” for the purchase of electric cars and greener heating systems, as well as an extra tax for billionaires.
The fiscally conservative FDP, on the other hand, wants to decrease taxes, and keep the debt brake as it is. The party is positioning itself against the government’s current goal of making Germany climate-neutral by 2045, saying instead that the EU target of 2050 should be used as a guide. The ban on combustion engines for new cars registered from 2035 onwards should be lifted, and the air traffic tax abolished, they say.
The AfD has already presented a draft of its own election programme, in which it vowed to sharply curb immigration, deport illegal immigrants, turn nuclear power plants back on, exit the European Union—unless it carries out major reforms—and end arms deliveries to Ukraine.
However, the AfD, like the recently formed left-wing Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, will likely be sidelined when it comes to coalition talks after the elections. The parties of old will come to some sort of agreement, either establishing a two-party or a three-way coalition. It is hard to believe that much will change, and as news outlet Junge Freiheit puts it:
Regardless of whether Scholz or Merz wins, the same losers who have been running this country into the ground for years will be in charge.
