German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admits his government’s support is crashing in part because it is supporting the NATO proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. Scholz says voters harmed by dueling sanctions have shown their discontent “in the election results”—but he insists there is “no alternative” to the current policy.
The anti-mass migration, eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) placed above Scholz’s Social Democrats in the European Parliament elections, as well as the far-left Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats who make up the incumbent coalition government.
The AfD is especially dominant in the former East Germany, where the Social Democrats are polling as low as seven percent ahead of regional elections in September. Scholz says the prospect of AfD state premiers is “very depressing.”
The notionally center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formerly led by Angela Merkel, appears more willing to shift its position on Ukraine. Current leader Friedrich Merz, formerly a war hawk, is now lobbying for peace talks, saying, “We must see that we open up possibilities for how to bring this conflict to an end at some point.”
Polls project Merz to replace Scholz as Chancellor after the German federal elections in 2025.
Scholz also expressed some regret over the German government’s draconian crackdown on citizens during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
“There were a few decisions that were over the top,” he now admits, citing sweeping school closures and a ban on forest walks.