The middle doesn't matter. What the people want matters. The parlament is supposed to serve the people not the other way around. Brandmauer and other shinanigens are undemocratic theatrics to distract from the purpose of Democracy and to legitimize party interests. People all over do want less immigration and more taxes for the rich. The party system is not designed to give them that. It's generally not designed to support the will of the majority. It's designed to connect idealists and then have them fight for power. We need direct democracy.
Also FZN FRZ, or "c*nt Fritz" in English I suppose. Because he voted against a law that defined marital rape as rape. Though to be fair to him, he supported a previous version of the law that allowed victims to veto the prosecution of marital rape (which isn't granted to victims of rape or comparable crimes otherwise - it's not a civil case after all). Apparently he was very concerned people might accuse their spouses of raping them and then not be able to take those claims back when convinced ... err... I mean indepently realizing they may have misjudged or misrepresented what happened.
@@FreyaonaPegasus-jc5qb there is only the Konstruktives Misstrauensvotum in the German constitution, meaning that you need to find a majority for the future chancellor before you can vote the current one out. Today clearly showed that there is no such majority in the Bundestag, even with the conservatives and liberals working with the fascists.
@@ravanpee1325well if you have a democratic parliament that agrees on not using calculated AFD votes for their laws, it has a reason: if the AFD wasn't there you would not have a majority for your law and you would have to find agreements with the rest. But by simply using the AFD votes now he actually tries to make HIS laws without a majority under democratic parties. Do you understand why this is wrong?
@@ichdrehgleichamrad Therefore the SPD is responsible to not vote for this law. Everything what is included in the law is common sense in the roundtable of minister presidents...(dt. Ministerpräsidenten-Runde)
@@ravanpee1325but the law was not agreed upon between SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP beforehand. Merz himself proposed for all these parties to only introduce previously agreed upon bills into the Bundestag, so no accidental majority with the AfD could ever be created.
@ravanpee1325 ok so I see you don't understand: look the idea of a democracy is to find majority for laws under all democratic parties, so it can become law. But if you use the antidemocratic votes in your calculated favour to bypass the non existent majority under democratic parties you're not serving the idea of a democracy anymore. I mean there literally IS a reason why since the second world war no parties have ever voted by calculation with right wing parties in Germany. And to the actual content: as I understand it nothing in there would have prevented what happened, a lot of it is not feasible, practically and legally, and discussions about alternatives are taking place the whole time. I don't think all of the law was good and luckily so did the majority of the lawmakers, even individuals of CDU and FDP
Someone on Mastodon wrote that Merz could have simply stayed quiet until the election and would have easily become the next chancellor without any hassle. But instead, he chosed unnecessary chaos. That says a lot about him and raises serious doubts about his ability to lead a country.
If he would’ve stayed quiet then Afd would’ve entered the motion into the Parliament and then CDU wouldn’t have voted for it and would’ve needed to explain to the voter why they vote against limiting migration. They were in a quandary.
@@lordhelmchen100 nope. Telling voters that you voted against something proposed by the AfD is easy. Voters in agreement that you don’t work with extremists.
When I watched the speeches in the Bundestag yesterday there was something that caught my eye in the newsticker on the bottom of the screen: "Only 11% of Brits think the Brexit was a success" - seeing this reminded me that people often do not think about what they're voting for and what that might mean for their lives + their future.
The Brexit referendum wasn't legally binding, but in announcing it the government promised to implement the result, whatever it was. So had the government refused to implement it, there would have been riots followed by a massive swing to UKIP.
Shouldn't any referendum be "legal", no matter what law says ? In a republic, the People dictates all laws, and what the public wants is executed. That's why German Politicians fear Democracy - it might end their Power. Of course in Practice all the boomers would cuck before the rule of law and submit themselves to justice.
@@rewboss I always wonder what would happen if the King made a statement on a topic. What would the House of Commons do? Abolish the monarchy? The Tories of all people? A joke, downright ridiculous...
@@rewboss "to implement the result, whatever it was" So what was the result? As far as I remember no-one really had wanted any kind of "hard Brexit". Fortunately for some, the referendum was absurdly unspecific about that.
Not only morally highly questionable, but also tactically stupid. In political science there is this idea of 'issue ownership': voters associate certain parties with certain issues. For anti-immigration in Germany this is clearly the AfD. What happens is that if other parties start making a big deal of this issue and make it important in the elections, it will not benefit them, but the party with issue-ownership. Voters will pick the real deal over the surrogate. This happened with the VVD versus the PVV here in the Netherlands and with the Tories and Reform in the UK. So Merz is probably only hurting CDU/CSU's poll numbers. Say what you want about Angela Merkel, but this is one thing she clearly understood.
@randomTaube not at all. Infrastructure, economics, housing,... are more important. Look at only that one tram bridge collapse in Dresden, with a bit of bad luck this would have been hundreds of people dead, including a lot of children.
@@FreakAzoiyd I do admit I was wrong, but iirc for voters it is still the 3rd most important problem in relation to this election. So no matter what logically IS important, this is more important than everything but the economy and one more problem to the people who actually decide what is important
@randomTaube Wrong. It's the most important issue according to Politbarometer. What is on the line here is wether the German Federal Republik can continue to be the state for the German people to govern themselves as a sovereign nation or wether it becomes a globalized conglomerate open to anyone. 40% of the current youth has a migration background, getting a passport is as easy as ever, birth rates are as low as never and the state fails to deport even violent criminals. Germans have overwhelmingly made up their mind of this but the parties fail fulfill their democratic task.
Merkel is the reason why many voters will not put anymore faith into the CDU. Listen to what Merkel said about refugees in the early 2000s and what she actually did when she had all the power.
I've been saying for years that whatever one thinks of the chancellorship of Angela Merkel in retrospect, her one great achievement was keeping Friedrich Merz away from the top layer of politics for about twenty years. She apparently was quite a visionary.
She took a number of decisions, which had a deep impact on Germany: She eliminated a list of conservative politicians in her own party to stay in power. That caused the creation and rise of the AfD, instead of keeping ultra-rights under control. Signing Nord Stream 2 with Russia for final gas dependency. Shutting down cheap and clean nuclear energy, after Fukushima to steal Green Party votes for that upcoming elections, which has ruined Germany's industry competitiveness since years. Free inflow of illegal immigrants who have brought social instability, overloaded the financial and managerial capacities of federal states public authorities, brought safety issues, and generated generalized hate, which affects everyone. So, in hindsight, she was catastrophic for the country. And this are the topics that just came to my mind now. There are more.
The SPD/Greens (left-wing parties) have been dragging the CDU into the left corner for more than 10 years (under the leadership of the CDU Chancellor). Conservative circles of the CDU have been silenced and cooperation (in parliament) with the AfD has been prevented by the firewall. This is an instrument of power that has been coated with moral sugar coating. In essence, however, it is only about the power of the left-wing party bloc, or rather maintaining it, possibly at the expense of the CDU.
Merz not only opened the door to right-wing extremists for a motion that purely populist and won't change anything, he also blew it and ridiculed his party. Now left and right agree that you can't trust CDU especially on migration, and especially people that want stricter migration will now vote for the "original", the AfD, which is pretty much guaranteed to keep their word on this.
100% agree. personally I was weary of the CDU, since it was the union that was in power when the "problems" with migration started. So them proclaiming to have completely changed their ways seemed fishy. I was hoping to avoid having to vote for the AfD, since everything they wanna do besides the migration changes are not in my interest. But since it's my main issue currently there isn't another party that I feel will actually represent me. besides npd lmao.
@bimpus69 Why is immigration your main issue, though? It's really not that big a deal in terms of material issues affecting Germany right now. Like, I abhor right-wing anti-immigrant sentiment, but if my choice was between a) a party that's like the AfD but (somehow) agrees with me on immigration, or b) a non-insane party that's reactionary on immigration, I'd pick b) without a second thought.
@bimpus69 How the fuck can "getting rid of immigrants" be your "main issue" in Germany in 2025? We're literally headed for climate collapse. We're in the middle of a recession caused by decades of refusing to invest in public infrastructure and subsidising dying industries like fossil fuels, combustion engine vehicle manufacturing and aviation while cutting subsidies to technological innovation (remember how everyone was talking about solar and then wasn't? it wasn't a bubble, the conservatives simply killed the subsidies that allowed this tech to boom and this created a vacuum for us to be overtaken by China and the US). We have a failing and overloaded healthcare system because the FDP decided hospitals should be run like for-profit businesses maximizing shareholder value rather than providing value to their customers. And even the biggest failure of our immigration system is our anachronistic assumption that immigrants are temporary "guest workers" who will leave after a year or two and that refugees are cripples incapable of working who should best be confined to what amount to overcrowded jails instead of pursuing a career that might actually provide value to our society. But sure, the biggest problem is people who talk funny and have a bad attitude from hanging around people that don't like them all day while not being allowed to do anything meaningful.
@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs I think you should copy this answer as a seperately standing comment. Absolute majority of voters has never and will never be affected by migration policies, yet it is all you can hear about now.
Merz' whole schtick has been dipping a toe into the right wing pool and then shying away from jumping. It looks like he seriously thought he could do that again and once more get away with it, while scoring a political win.
For American English speakers: the verb "to table" has the exact opposite meaning in BrEng as in AmEng. In BrEng it means to "bring forward" whereas in AmEng it means to "set aside (for now)."
For clarification, a difference in meaning between British English and American English about the verb, "table." In the latter, to "table" something means to postpone or suspend consideration of the item indefinitely, usually to avoid further discussion or a vote on a controversial or sensitive issue. Andrew is British, so when he used the verb "table," he meant the Union formally introduced the item for discussion or debate.
Flintenuschi became EU president for screwing Germany for about half a billion. Scheuer "only" screwed us for about 50 millions and demanded a 12 headed pr team afterwards to push his damaged image (which he surely got. Why wouldn't he). The time of modesty or resigning or simply even an excuse is long gone. The people need to make those monsters feel fear consequences again or it will just get worse. Dire consequences. Not a slap on the wrist.
I don't think Merz is going to resign. He has been trying - and failing - to become chancellor for so long, he won't let this stop him. After all, this would require backbone, of which he has none.
Yeah terrible that he wanted to change the failed status quo on migration in an attempt to limit the amount of crime and attacks on German streets , 😱😱 how horrid , Sara wagenknecht was correct that blocking this reform will only embolden the afd as people will get more fed up with other parties
I have a horrible feeling it's deliberate provocation by Merz. He would probably take a job with the AFD. We've seen this sort of behaviour from the Tories in relation to Reform in the UK.
@@Ned-Ryerson Yep. I feel like Austria is a bit like Japan: they never really had to come to terms with what they did, because Germany took the moral and ethical hit, so now they sit around smugly being overtly racist and acting like they were the real victims all along.
9:10 another thing this all shows: Merz would have been chancellor pretty much without a doubt and the union as a member of the coalition. But instead, he pushed his right wing plan he exactly knew the other parties that might be in his future coalition would hate. So he also showed he is extremely impatient and totally fine with gambling with politics. Who wants a chancellor like that?
He is an entrepreneur. Enterprises are usually not democratic institutions: You have a boss and he gives the orders and everybody has to obey. This doesn't work in a democracy.
Tbf blackrock and wef have been pushing mass uncontrolled immigration for decades so if anything that would be most in line with the green immigration policy
@@jankrusat2150No, he is not. He was a lawyer for an investment company, and one of questionable moral standing, to boot. Before that, he was in the pay of the public, as he is now.
@@SDDT1 let me help you: You don't need to drop out of the window on your third floor to leave the building. You could use just the stairs to get to the main entrance.
It's worth noting that "illegal immigration" is a bit of a misnomer in the German context. By German law, you may enter the country without documentation (and outside of proper border crossings) if you intend to apply for asylum in good faith. Once your asylum has been rejected, you can be deported. Yet, crossing the border was still legal! However, even though it's legal for such would-be immigrants to enter, they don't have _right_ to do so. The German state may legally prevent them from entering. So, a lot of the debate is about how and whether to prevent such entry, and how to treat such immigrants if they are denied asylum. However, none of this concerns immigration that is illegal under German law. (German law, in this respect, is different from American, and I think, British law).
It's not illegal to enter the territory of a signatory to the refugee convention, including the United Kingdom, for the purpose of seeking asylum there. International law trumps national law in this case; passing a domestic law does not absolve you of your treaty obligations. The US is not a signatory.
Important explanation but it does require that you have been contacting the Ausländerbehörde or city to get register and you need apply for asylum (or for a protected status (often more common) . Yes it is legal to enter
Once asylum is reject doed not mean that people have to leave. (Many can't return to another country because it isn't safe or document aren't provided by agencys) people have right to appeal and go to court. RECHTSTAATSGEBOT. Asylum maybe denied but many still get a protected or temporary status like many syrians did.
@@paxundpeace9970 To expand on that, the vast majority of people don't get asylum, but are recognized as refugees or "subsidiär schutzberechtigt". No idea how to translate the last one, but it's the status you get when returning to your home country would expose you to serious risk of death or bodily harm. And it's perfectly legal.
None of them should have been allowed to even apply for asylum in Germany when we follow the laws, considering they've all come to Germany from safe countries with no reason to flee.
Some much needed context on the "murderous attacks by foreign nationals": The vast majority of all violent immigrant crime happens within immigrant communities, often the result of poverty, being forced into stressful environments, and traumatic experiences while fleeing one's home country etc. Not to mention the fact that violent crime has barely gone up in recent years, especially when adjusted for population growth - if anything, growing inequality has historically been far more reliable a predictor of crime surges than anything else.
if western countries are obliged to accept millions of "refugees" (the German word for asylum seeker nowadays) per year (and millions is not an exagerration here), then they should also have the right to enter the countries that cannot protect their own civilians and to restore order. This cannot work one way only.
Recently I caught myself the first time in my life thinking, that (although I'd never vote for them) the CDU is not that bad, considering certain conservative parties in other countries (looking at you, US). At least they uphold democratic values, are relatively moderate and able to make compromises........? Hahahahahaha......shame on me. The most reasonable thing to do now would be for Merz to resign. His party will win the elections anyway.
If there's one guy who can bottle that election it's Merz. He reminds me of a German version of Hilary Clinton. Even CDU hates him but they can't do nothing cause he's just somehow next in line and that's how it is. But I think we might be in for some more hilarity. I bet folks like Markus Söder are already scheming on his ass. 😂
We don't call them that in Germany because we don't like being reminded of why the Nazis came to power but "conservatism" is by definition a "right-wing" ideology. And as for why the Nazis came to power: it was the conservatives who helped them pass the Enabling Act. Specifically the _Christliche Mitte_, the Christian "political center-right" party. The CM barely even exists post-WW2 for obvious reasons but you don't need to look hard to realize what the modern equivalent is. And btw their motivation was to fight "the extreme left" and to maybe help reinstate the monarchy. I'm sure Merz would agree with the former and it wouldn't be too difficult to sell him on the latter as long as he got a lucrative position in it.
They not even holding up common sense for the consitution. Germany is ein 'Rechtsstaat' bedeutet auch Asylsuchende haben anspruch auf ein Verfahren und die Möglichkeit dies von Gerichten prüfen zu lassen. Merz wollte das Rechtsstaatsgebot ausheben.
@@GarethFaircloughRegardless of what you think about their policies, I think it's quite clear that Habeck would be the most competent and trustworthy chancellor.
@@kentknightofcaelin4537Habeck certainly shouldn't be chancellor during our current economic crisis - I don't like Merz but looking at the other options he might be the only chancellor that actually tries to fix our economy...
Problem is that Merz and his CDU are not only right winged. His Party - thanks to about 30% of Votes it's probably going to get - will be a fundamental Part of the System, which makes Germany itself right winged and more and more autocratic.
More or less autocratic are the left wingers. Every slightest diversion from their believes will be responded with Nazi, Faschist or in your words: autocratic. How many people have been jailed in GDR compared to (West-)Germany for political reasons? Problem is that Merkel tried to surpass SPD on the left. Nowadays every left news magazine starts with "politics are turning to the right". I wonder where had the complains about "turning left" been when the traffic light coalition took over 3 years ago? By that logic we have already turned to the right so much that we are on the left now. What we see now is simply a correction of course for the CDU. But I doubt it is too much of a correction of course but an effort to overcome inaction. SPD and Greens pretended too often to act in favor of the citizens. Never there was the slightest effort to do so, they simply refused to act at all. And CDU is afraid to get drowned if they partner with one of them without changing course. Obviously, as long as democratic parties do not change course they feed AFD (and others) until these will win elections. And then Germanyt may become kind of an autocracy. Thus, if you refuse autocracy the smartest and only choice is CDU/CSU.
His full name is: Friedrich "The Weasel" Merz. I think he took a page from the playbook of the Tories: Ponder only to the right and sacrifice the centre. Worked just fine for them.... Also, he said he is strengthened by the fiasco. Strengthened by loosing a vote. So, not only the worst strategist but also a bit dim, it seems.
Friedrich Merz is a person with quite a fragile ego and should be kept away from power as far as possible. Not to mention that he is constantly proposing political ideas that are decades old, have been tried over and over again, and brought us into the mess we are in. Which is why his fans love him, they want to travel back in time to a fantasised which world that never existed. It's a recipe for disaster...
This election is going to be bonkers and I'm not looking forward to it in the least. I really hope that Union voters rethink their choice after Merz showed that the Brandmauer can be torn down so easily or never really existed in the first place.
Like most other politicians, Merz is a clown and has only his self interest in mind. He doesn't care about the average person, only about how to get thier vote and will discard them after he has it.
Nah he mostly has the interests of the Großkonzerne lobby in mind: BASF & Blackrock especially. It's not a coincidence that the Walhprogramm of the CDU is basically identical to the demands of the chemical industry
stop calling him a clown; that makes him look like the weak person he actually is on the inside, call him evil, because that‘s what he is. an evil monster.
3:55 obviously the issue is not the laws but how they are being implemented, the bureaucracy, and the lack of digitalization. This is even clear from when a legal immigrant tries to get residents permit or visa, the waiting period can be months and sometimes people have been reported to sleep the night before at the immigration offices so they can be the first in the line. What kind of treatment is that for someone who is highly skilled worker and pays more taxes than an average German citizen.
The question is who is responsible for this kind of implementation of broken system for immigration. Wasn't it the CDU who was in charge for 16 years of Germany and that is the one who implemented this system. Not to mention it is the CDO that was in charge when whole world was adopting to technology, but the regressive and conservative policies of CDU held back Germany both technologically and economically.
You are right that (former) CDU voters are angry. I wrote a letter to my MP for the first time in my life to let him know he’s lost my confidence. To be fair, I wouldn’t have given my Zweitstimme to the CDU anyway this election, but the Erststimme was still up in the air before this. Disgraceful.
@@SDDT1 He’s in the Bundestag via direct mandate and halfway down the CDU’s Landesliste. If he loses enough voters from his district, he may well lose his seat even if his party wins the election. Cynicism is not a useful way of engaging with the political system.
@ Good to know. If you need an Android app for your campaign, you can get it for the small price of promising to get me legally into the country some time before I perish 😁
I work in IT, and also am interested in politics. I never made the connection in my head that "Brandmauer" is the same word as "firewall". I feel stupid.
My guess is that, since the attack in Aschaffenburg happened so close to the election, he wanted to take advantage of the inevitable anti-immigration sentiment and be seen as The Man Who's Doing Something About Terrorism before the AfD could get that credit. I suspect he simply didn't think any further than that.
@@rewbossI think he wants to get his policies through before the election, because he knows that after the election, he will have to form a coalition with another party, and since the AfD is off the table, the FDP is too weak, if they make it at all, that leaves only SPD and/or the Greens, and both of them would never ever allow for his migration policies to be passed.
@@rewboss I wonder how Merz plans to govern with SPD and Grünen, when he wants to stop Familiennachzug and the others don't. Mainly because it is illegal and would never pass the Bundesrat. The law failed to pass today, but the composition of the Bundestag will be different after the election. It is very possible that AfD + Union get more than half the seats. What then? Just how important is this law for him? Enough to refuse to form a coalition with SPD and/or Grünen?
@@saadisavehe wants basically the same as the AfD anyway. Immigration will be a pretext for a coalition with the AfD, which will massively cut taxes for the rich and the welfare state. Same thing as Trump and all other populist rightwingers.
Great summery. But let's not forget about the FDP. They also voted with the union and the afd and they were pretty much the reason todays vote failed. I am sure Christian Lindner is done in the fdp after the election.
New voters will always be dumb enough to revive that corpse of a liberal party. They had the youth vote the previous time and the children in four years will be just as moronic as they were four years ago, just with an even more limited attention span.
Lindner is very popular among young neoliberals, that man is like a bloody cockroach and always finds a way to come back even when he utterly fails and humiliates himself
I think the only reason he's still party-leader is that nobody wants to shoulder the thankless task of trying to save the party's reputation (and future).
I just remember the previous election where Armin Laschet was in favor of winning with the union and than had a little scandal (so little it’s not even worth mentioning if you’d compare it to merz breaking the Fire wall) he laughed on camera in the background at an event for victims of a flooding. This laughing got many people to think he has bad manners and they switched from CDU to SPD
Assuming that he will actually become Chancellor at this point. He has effectively betrayed not only the trust of many Union Voters but has also made clear that he will not make any concessions in a coalition and that he will use the Far Right Votes if necessary. So neither the Green nor the SPD can possibly form a Coalition with him unless he goes back on these Statements. But him going back on these would be the End of his Political Career. So at this Point. The only Way I See him becoming Chancellor would be to form a Coalition with the AFD. But that as well would effectively End his Political Career. And quite Possibly it would result in his Government Failing faster than the Ampel. That however is also the one Silver Lining on this. If Merz really goes into a Coalition with the AFD. The Union will completely Destroy itself in the Process. And likely also Damage the AFD. With the Government Failing pretty Quickly. So if this happens it will at least come with the Benefit of Merz Finally being out Forever. Anyway. Great Explanation. Cheers to That. And Yeah.... I sure would love to Live in less Interesting Times....
@@Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz Isnt it obvious: What ever the afd wants is the will of the silent majority. Everything that opposes this is just because of the brainwashing of the evil state media 🤖 This is what AfD voters actually believe
@ Yes I have to make a correction though. The approval was at 66% among Germans and 56% among SPD voters. The survey was conducted by INSA, you can read more about in in the Tagesspiegel 31.01.2025
I'm mystified. You manage to inform me better than mainstream German news (tagesschau), and not because I think that there's a conspiracy going on, but because they just seem to do an awful job -- or you to do a very good job. The point about permanent border control and the Schengen agreement was enlightening to me, this should have been in our mainstream news.
You might have stated that the actual enforcement of the immigration rules is a state matter, and not under the jurisdiction of Scholz's federal government. And several of the attacks have happened in states governed by the CDU or CSU.
@@SDDT1 Cases like the the attack in Magdeburg which was committed by a guy who lived here since 2006 and worked as a doctor have very little to do with border security.
There could also be a thing called 'Minderheitsregierung' a Minority Government, where the governing Coalition does not have the Majority, so they have to get votes from other Parties to pass laws
Well, that's the situation we're in now. Because we now have a de facto minority government, the opposition was able to get a motion passed against the wishes of the government.
Till now the logic was simple: if you want a right wing approach to immigration, voting the AfD is useless, because they will never pass laws. Therefore you have to vote CDU/CSU if you actually care about reasonable immigration legislation, and voting AfD is symbolically only, voting the AfD makes only sense when you aren't for reasonable right wing policy, but, well, are somewhat on the Nazi line of reasoning. This reasoning was destroyed by Merz. From now on goes: voting AfD will make right wing legislation more likely. From now on the fascists have a way easier time to market themselves. Merz is an idiot. Or, he actually does want a coalition with the fascists. But it is way more likely that he is just an idiot.
to be fair - we had formerly different polical firewalls (aka "Brandmauern") against new political forces in the 80ies it was against the new green party... it was tried to not work with them, especially from the SPD because they didn't want to empower the close political opponent... and for some conservatives the greens are still untouchable... or to go more rightwing and call them "Ökofaschisten"... after reunification... the post SED-Party, the PDS, now the Linke... was untouchable behind a firewall... especially the CDU with their "red-socks-campaign" made clear that every working together with the former communists isn't tolerable... - the SPD listend much too long to this and went from a "Volkspartei" (catch-all-party) from about 40% to the now known 15-20% in the process of not working with a new party close to the own political agenda... in both cases the firewalls didn't held the parties back... but gave the political climate and those parties time to find together.... acceptance in public and being less radical for the parties... now we have the firwall against the AfD.... it wont work, of course not, for ever.... of course its different - its right wing this time and not left wing... the AfD still seems to get more radical than less radical... but the bigger question for me is... will the CDU make the same fault as the SPD... and lose its status als Volkspartei... by denying rightwing political majorities as the SPD denied leftwing majorities for too long.... or will it make another fault as working with a still radical party - like in the 30ies the NSDAP was empowered by working with them... or will something completly new happen? i think we will see.... for my personal democratic view... its good that the CDU steps back to where it belongs to.... not as the only party of the middle - but as party of right of the middle... giving some more space to its political opponents left of the middle to make that 50/50 again... and finally take a party programm like it should be... spreading so far right, that there is no space for any democratic party more rightwing of it.... thats how our political system was designed - and how it should be...
There is a fault in the firewall to te AFD. If the AFD is a lawful party, the time to get accoustomed with them is over. It's important for democracy that matters can be discussed in parliament between all parties. Firewalls have to be the exception. But if the AFD is unlawful, it should be illegal. No firewall should be necessary, but they shouldn't be allowed to run for the election.
All these shinanigans have nothing to do with democracy. Democracy is about doing what the people want. This hunger games style democracy where you have one election to legitimize everything and then the parties do everything in their might to follow their own interests is shamefull and it's the reason why modern democracies are so split. If people want protection of the enviroment they should get it. If the people no longer want immigration it should be stopped.
@olivers.7821 in my eyes it was and still is. After the SPD went downhill Merkel led the CDU from the center right party to a party of the middle - abandoning the far right for the mid voters which fell off the SPD. Abandoning the right wing so that this space opened for the AfD. Thats why there was/is almost no government against the party possible anymore. In my eyes the CDU/CSU is far left from what it was in the 80ies where, as F.J.Strauss said: there shall be no legal party more rightwing than the Union. Thats at least my view.
@@joachimfrank4134There is one problem with this: The AfD may be illegal by law, but you can not forbid the party because it has 20% percent of voters behind it. If you tried even if you are right you take a huge risk in terms of the stability of the society and the democratic system. (Most of the voters of the AfD would not agree with such a decision, does not matter how well the argument is made)
the most interesting part was german newspapers keeping quiet about the proposal meant to cut peoles privacy rights substantially and focused almost solely on reporting on the migration proposal. its also important to know that was just a campaign move to gain voter momentum that it lost to the AfD over the migration topics. this proposal would never have made it anyway so it was just some hot air mixed with breaking the taboo of working together with the AfD in the Bundestag. its just a loose/loose for the CDU/CSU because they did not expect people to see the obvious stunt and they by breaking the taboo made voters coming from the center rethink their stance. they basically strengthened their enemies to the left and to the right. merz deserves to fail at this election.
Friedrich Merz is not without controversy in his CDU. He had to step down under Merkel because he was too far to the right. Merkel (CDU) sought a centrist policy with the SPD. Merz didn’t fit in there. In the next parliament, Merz will have problems reaching an agreement with the SPD and is therefore looking for a majority on the right. But that annoys the moderate wing of the CDU. On the other hand, Merz persuades voters who are between the CDU and the SPD to choose the SPD.
There's a difference, I think, between a very large percentage of the population voting in a referendum after being told the government promised to implement the result, and about 700 politicians voting on a wish-list.
The question is whether the voters (and maybe his own party) will trust Merz, not so much whether the SPD and Greens do. If the trust inside the CDU is low enough, maybe we can get a different Union chancellor instead.
As a German, I never liked his guy. He had always been a very unpleasant person who strongly dislikes immigrants and young people in general. It's still baffling to me that this is what the CDU has to offer after Angela Merkel retired (I don't count the clown Armin Laschet because he didn't last long). Thousands of people keep demonstrating against the AfD and now Friedrich Merz as well because of his little stunt. If he's willing to basically blackmail the other parties to break EU guidelines, who knows what else he's going to do next.
You almost nailed it. You said courts assessed the AfD being against the constitution, but it was only assessed for parts of the AfD officially by now.
Emphasis on "officially" and " by now". If you listen to or read what the party members say and write, especially when they think they're among themselves and non one's watching, it's really quite clear.
@ ofc I torally think the whole party is against the constitution. Also there seems to be a report of the Verfassungsschutz that is not published yet that seems to suggest the same. I’m just saying that all the official reports are for parts of the party and not the party as whole.
@ not true. Please google “Verfassungsschutzbericht Sachsen-Anhalt” or “Verfassungsschutzbericht Sachsen” or “Verfassungsschutzbericht Thüringen”. You should find the reports.
It is not just the politicians, but much more disturbingly the media. It is funny how they don't even bother to report on the plans of Die Linke to deal with the housing crisis. Oh well, another 4 years where nobody is doing anything while they trade living space as if it was tulips
There really isn’t , because migration is directly linked to most forms of crime increasing , house prices increasing , a increased tax deficit and therefore less spend per head , poor integration and fracturing of local communities , more strain on utilities and services , demand for new housing and associated roads in green sites which destroys local environment , general depreciation of local customs and identity
There will be a coalition between the AfD and the CDU sooner or later, because many AfD members are former CDU members and both parties share huge similarities in the fields of immigration and the economy. Its common practice across Europe.
That would be a huge cut. CDU/CSU are strongly connected with the main churches in Germany and these have recently warned not to vote for AFD. Remind that churches have been silent regarding elections the last 50 years. This breakage would be more severe than the recent lie of Merz (in hindsight, expected due to his character).
3:30 just for reference the statically safest years in the history of Germany were 2023 2022 2021 and 2021. Number for 2024 are yet to be finalized and published. the idea of making Germany safe again is inherently flawed and something no politician can actually achieve as you need to fix a problem that isn't one. also according to the CDU the churches are now left wing and green. i think that should tell you all about what to expect with the union.
The churches´ membership has fallen below 50 %. It used to be almost 100 %. They keep being in free fall. What used to be a nice community has become a highly politicized thing. I stepped out in the year 2016 as they appealed to their members to not vote for AfD without reasoning why. By my request I was referred to an interview about border control. In that year the Evangelical church set up a branch office in Brussels to lobby the European parliament. Refugees, the elderly, healthcare, kindergartens and even housing in general are big business to the churches. Besides that we have a church tax deducted from one´s income and direct payment of the state to the churches as an apparently eternal retribution to their losses in power. The bishops and others are directly paid by the German state.
They might be MAGA. Some People hate Islam, but love the USA. Theese would possibly vote the anti-migration CDU. Also Blackrock-Backed Merz doesn't have a problem with "Racism". He fears people seizing power who would terminate western values - AfD or BSW.
No, no, only innocent life in Germany. With a German citizenship. As long as it doesn't have dual citizenship. Wait, doesn't that exclude most Jewish people? Oh, I'm sure that's a complete accident.
Of course not. It's only important to protect (German) people from non-Germans, or even non-native Germans. And he appears to either firmly believe that, or decided that he cannot back down because that would be admission of being wrong. He seriously brought up the suggestion to strip legally German citizens of their citizenship in case of criminal activities, provided they have a second citizenship to fall back to. (As otherwise that would be blatantly illegal according to international laws and treaties.) Also there's a deep rivalry (at least from his perspective) with Angela Merkel, who kept him out of leading positions while she was active, and recently even reacted to his nonsense, straight-up calling it "wrong". I wouldn't be surprised if this is a spite reaction by him, in a desperate attempt to prove her wrong, and to prove to himself that he is competent enough to lead the party as future chancellor. This man has deep personality issues.
Yeah you said it yourself. GLOBAL warming. As of today, co2-emissions per capita is lower in Germany than in China. The US will leave paris again now. Germany has already done more than enough. And Germany wont stop Global Warming even if we demolished our industry entirely.
Well the worlds highest emitters are China by a long way to they can’t actually change that much without China Changan its policy , while German government has sovereignty over their borders
Difference is he can actively change legislation to improve safety in his own country but requires the by in of higher carbon producing states such as China for any chance for progress
The election is in three weeks, and I genuinely don't know who to vote for. Just like in other countries, I'll vote just so I can vote against the AfD, but that's about it. While I (like many others) despise the fact that the CDU did this, I also know that the laws around migration need to change. But the SPD and the Greens are just utterly incompetent in this topic. Sure, I've heard how it's all everyone else's fault, how the laws exist and are not being implemented correctly etc. But fact is, we've had 4 years of SPD/Green/FDP and 16 years of CDU-led government before that, and none were able to solve this issue. And from what I hear from SPD/Greens (opposing literally anything that might lead to actual change) if they remain in power it's just gonna get worse and feed the AfD more votes. So TL;DR: CDU - Merz wtf + Merkel started a lot of the current issues, FDP - nope after the whole D-Day thing, SPD/Greens - incompetent when it comes to migration, BSW - putin ally, AfD - hell no
All the rhetoric about migration is just there to distract us from talking about actually relevant topics. There is no actually serious problem with immigration.
A left government without the obstructionists from the FDP would be nice for a change. I'll vote for Die Linke this time because I think their voice would be dearly missed from parliament and also they are guaranteed not to make Merz chancellor.
Depends on what you want. For myself i always use the Whal-o-Mat to learn, that i will vote green and left anyways, because they care the most about my desires. But in this case of elections we have to also be a bit strategic, i guess like always, vote the less worst. You can't get anything anyways, so probably go for most things whats important to you, thats were i 100% ended up Green and Left on top. The Left with Heidi Reichinnek would be a huuuuuuge win for us and they are also the most transparent, non-corrupt party, wanting to give us the most in points of income, pension, child-support, minimum wage,... and so on, maybe give them a try!
The firewall is deeply antidemocratic. German politics has hijacked itself into eternal leftwing politics because never ever may the AfD be allowed to be decisive for a majority vote.
How about the CDU/CSU throwing away Merz as Spitzenkandidate, with them in coalition with the SPD and Greens or one of them, and choosing another member of the Union from its moderate faction or a technocratic leader as Mario Draghi had done or in the Netherlands, some director of some agency was made prime minister?
This close to an election, ditching Merz and nominating somebody else as chancellor-candidate could damage the party even further. But legally speaking, the chancellor doesn't have to be the leader of the biggest party, or even a member of the Bundestag: in theory anyone who can get more than 50% of the members to vote for them can get the job. That would be, AFAIK, unprecedented, and probably be very unpopular among voters (they would complain it was a "bait-and-switch" operation, because the perception is that we vote for the chancellor, even though in fact we don't).
@rewboss Even you could be appointed chancellor by Steinmeier. Bringing up the possibility of the technocrat before the vote happens would be one way of avoiding any sense of betrayal.
@@rewboss > anyone who can get more than 50% of the members to vote for Andrew, I think you were the better person. And it doesn't matter that you are not a candidate.
I just want to say what I notice under me and my friends: I have a lot of friends with different political views. One is a SPD voter, one is an overall left voter. One is a green voter. One is likely to vote for the AFD, two are CDU Voter, and two are considering between die Linke, SPD and Volt.But one thing we could all agree on: We hate Friedrich Merz, and that BSW is shit
all democratic parties should insist that Merz has to bear responsibility for his actions this week resign in order for them to be open for a coalition with the CDU. A coalition with the CDU is unavoidable, unless there is a massive change in the election result compared to what polling over the last weeks suggests (which unfortunately still doesn't seem likely). But a coalition with Merz might be. For the remaining moderates in his party, that could be the opportunity to force him out. We have to recall that it took him three tries to get voted in as party leader, so there is clearly significant in-party opposition to him, even though most people on the parliamentary group don't have the balls or spine to oppose him. Heck, a CDU representative was the one to push for parliament to start a trial to ban the AfD. Merz looks like he is in control of his party, but that might be a false impression.
I was walking with my golden retriever next to a bunch of election posters, and he stopped at Merz one, didn’t want to continue and started barking at it. And he loves everyone. If a golden dislikes you, you’re probably a psycho.
Merz flies his own plane. I think one trusts pilots in flight because their own life is at stake with yours if they make a mistake. That does not apply to the "pilot" of a government. Whatever they have done and however much the people suffered they can usually leave with a golden handshake. Take Lizz Truss as a good (bad) example.
You forgot a 15 kph limit and mandatory wearing of helmets for cyclists, as well as license plates, insurance, winter tires in adverse conditions, the same fines for non-compliance with the rules as for motor vehicle drivers, etc. Every life counts.
We don't want a Nanny-State. We want a state, that punishes those who ( *intentionally* and *directly* ) violate a citicians right, and keeps out of their private life. The Citicians in return pais taxes and serves as conscript. And if you Nationalize the Heavy Industry, introduce forced labour for all ages instead of Wellfare and demand 30% Tarifs on all Imports, there won't be much taxes needed.
@@Ribulose15diphosphat More Germans get killed by Germans driving too fast on the Autobahn (which is intentionally, and directly killing) than Germans being killed by muslim "knifemen". The latter gets waves of "OH NOO!!" while every solution to the first gets opposed by the same people. That has nothing to do with nanny state, just basic logic and decency that is lacking.
Oh no. This will not be forgotten. For a long time i was worried about the political shift to the right, about a party that one of its highest functionaires (former cdu) proclaimed: "the third reich was a mere fly droppings worth in the over 1000 year history of Germany", gaining more power election by election, but i was ensured, that ALL of the major parties would do anything to prevent them to get an ounce of legislative power. This consensus (which was established at the foundation of the GFR), has been broken. Twice now, but at least the law the union wanted to pass, didn't. Now i'm not worried, i am angry. And so are millions of other germans. As they say: NEVER AGAIN IS NOW
"Meet me in the middle," says the unjust man. You take a step towards him, he takes a step back. "Meet me in the middle," says the unjust man.
hey kaworu, shinji needs you asap
The middle doesn't matter. What the people want matters. The parlament is supposed to serve the people not the other way around. Brandmauer and other shinanigens are undemocratic theatrics to distract from the purpose of Democracy and to legitimize party interests.
People all over do want less immigration and more taxes for the rich. The party system is not designed to give them that. It's generally not designed to support the will of the majority. It's designed to connect idealists and then have them fight for power.
We need direct democracy.
@@mokocchi_love Yeah, sure. What does he need? 🙂
Excellent description of real-life German politics! Next step: "Why is never anything changing and everything going down the drain?"
@@kaworunagisa4009 🐓
For the non-germans: a famous nickname of his is Mr. Burns. That's all you need to know.
Also FZN FRZ, or "c*nt Fritz" in English I suppose. Because he voted against a law that defined marital rape as rape. Though to be fair to him, he supported a previous version of the law that allowed victims to veto the prosecution of marital rape (which isn't granted to victims of rape or comparable crimes otherwise - it's not a civil case after all). Apparently he was very concerned people might accuse their spouses of raping them and then not be able to take those claims back when convinced ... err... I mean indepently realizing they may have misjudged or misrepresented what happened.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 I knew he remids me on somebody.
It's actually because of "die Raute". Mr. Burns is known for having a similar hand gesture to Merkel.
The comparison isn't fair. Mr. Burns at least has a few good qualities, even if they're rare there are some.
@@Elfo_you're right. Mr. Burns fought against Nazis. Merz collaborates with them
"That is never going to happen". Well, that's what they said in Austria. And the Netherlands. And Sweden. Germany is just a bit late to the party.
hope you're right, things are finally looking up for Europe
Nah, we're not late. We're already going for round two. This just makes it even more infuriating and sad.
Better late than never
u forgot italy and maybe poland
We'll have our elections earlier and are still late :/
Kinda funny. You can ask Merz the Vertrauensfrage before he even becomes chancellor.
Only the chancellor can ask the Vertrauensfrage.
@@jonas_serafin the other one then, i forget the name
right, the misstrauensvotum
@@FreyaonaPegasus-jc5qb there is only the Konstruktives Misstrauensvotum in the German constitution, meaning that you need to find a majority for the future chancellor before you can vote the current one out. Today clearly showed that there is no such majority in the Bundestag, even with the conservatives and liberals working with the fascists.
Absolutely crazy take. Distrust him for doing Democracy and for trying to solve Germany's migration crisis with sound plans.
Funnily enough, when Merz became party leader, he said that anyone working together with the AfD would be kicked out of the party.
He didn't work with the AFD together, so what is your problem?
@@ravanpee1325well if you have a democratic parliament that agrees on not using calculated AFD votes for their laws, it has a reason: if the AFD wasn't there you would not have a majority for your law and you would have to find agreements with the rest. But by simply using the AFD votes now he actually tries to make HIS laws without a majority under democratic parties. Do you understand why this is wrong?
@@ichdrehgleichamrad Therefore the SPD is responsible to not vote for this law. Everything what is included in the law is common sense in the roundtable of minister presidents...(dt. Ministerpräsidenten-Runde)
@@ravanpee1325but the law was not agreed upon between SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP beforehand. Merz himself proposed for all these parties to only introduce previously agreed upon bills into the Bundestag, so no accidental majority with the AfD could ever be created.
@ravanpee1325 ok so I see you don't understand: look the idea of a democracy is to find majority for laws under all democratic parties, so it can become law. But if you use the antidemocratic votes in your calculated favour to bypass the non existent majority under democratic parties you're not serving the idea of a democracy anymore. I mean there literally IS a reason why since the second world war no parties have ever voted by calculation with right wing parties in Germany.
And to the actual content: as I understand it nothing in there would have prevented what happened, a lot of it is not feasible, practically and legally, and discussions about alternatives are taking place the whole time. I don't think all of the law was good and luckily so did the majority of the lawmakers, even individuals of CDU and FDP
Someone on Mastodon wrote that Merz could have simply stayed quiet until the election and would have easily become the next chancellor without any hassle. But instead, he chosed unnecessary chaos. That says a lot about him and raises serious doubts about his ability to lead a country.
I read a center right journalist comment on Tuesday that Merz decision has decided the election, we will just have to see in which way…
This "let's use the other party's slogans to snatch their voters" never works.
If he would’ve stayed quiet then Afd would’ve entered the motion into the Parliament and then CDU wouldn’t have voted for it and would’ve needed to explain to the voter why they vote against limiting migration. They were in a quandary.
@@lordhelmchen100 nope. Telling voters that you voted against something proposed by the AfD is easy. Voters in agreement that you don’t work with extremists.
He is as childish as Chump and primarily wants to beat Merkel who had neutralized his ambitions more than 20 years ago.
I remember when everyone was talking about "not legally-binding" and "just what they want to do" when the Brexit referendum was being planned.
When I watched the speeches in the Bundestag yesterday there was something that caught my eye in the newsticker on the bottom of the screen: "Only 11% of Brits think the Brexit was a success" - seeing this reminded me that people often do not think about what they're voting for and what that might mean for their lives + their future.
The Brexit referendum wasn't legally binding, but in announcing it the government promised to implement the result, whatever it was. So had the government refused to implement it, there would have been riots followed by a massive swing to UKIP.
Shouldn't any referendum be "legal", no matter what law says ? In a republic, the People dictates all laws, and what the public wants is executed. That's why German Politicians fear Democracy - it might end their Power.
Of course in Practice all the boomers would cuck before the rule of law and submit themselves to justice.
@@rewboss I always wonder what would happen if the King made a statement on a topic. What would the House of Commons do? Abolish the monarchy? The Tories of all people? A joke, downright ridiculous...
@@rewboss "to implement the result, whatever it was"
So what was the result? As far as I remember no-one really had wanted any kind of "hard Brexit". Fortunately for some, the referendum was absurdly unspecific about that.
Not only morally highly questionable, but also tactically stupid. In political science there is this idea of 'issue ownership': voters associate certain parties with certain issues. For anti-immigration in Germany this is clearly the AfD. What happens is that if other parties start making a big deal of this issue and make it important in the elections, it will not benefit them, but the party with issue-ownership. Voters will pick the real deal over the surrogate. This happened with the VVD versus the PVV here in the Netherlands and with the Tories and Reform in the UK. So Merz is probably only hurting CDU/CSU's poll numbers. Say what you want about Angela Merkel, but this is one thing she clearly understood.
it was already the most important problem
@randomTaube not at all. Infrastructure, economics, housing,... are more important.
Look at only that one tram bridge collapse in Dresden, with a bit of bad luck this would have been hundreds of people dead, including a lot of children.
@@FreakAzoiyd I do admit I was wrong, but iirc for voters it is still the 3rd most important problem in relation to this election. So no matter what logically IS important, this is more important than everything but the economy and one more problem to the people who actually decide what is important
@randomTaube Wrong. It's the most important issue according to Politbarometer.
What is on the line here is wether the German Federal Republik can continue to be the state for the German people to govern themselves as a sovereign nation or wether it becomes a globalized conglomerate open to anyone. 40% of the current youth has a migration background, getting a passport is as easy as ever, birth rates are as low as never and the state fails to deport even violent criminals. Germans have overwhelmingly made up their mind of this but the parties fail fulfill their democratic task.
Merkel is the reason why many voters will not put anymore faith into the CDU. Listen to what Merkel said about refugees in the early 2000s and what she actually did when she had all the power.
I've been saying for years that whatever one thinks of the chancellorship of Angela Merkel in retrospect, her one great achievement was keeping Friedrich Merz away from the top layer of politics for about twenty years. She apparently was quite a visionary.
Would thst have been do bad?
Didn't she just spend all of the surplus and let the infrastructure crumble because if the debt break
No she really was not. In fact most of our problems today are a direct consequence of her failed politics.
Well, aside from the 2015 fiasko that is.
She took a number of decisions, which had a deep impact on Germany: She eliminated a list of conservative politicians in her own party to stay in power. That caused the creation and rise of the AfD, instead of keeping ultra-rights under control.
Signing Nord Stream 2 with Russia for final gas dependency.
Shutting down cheap and clean nuclear energy, after Fukushima to steal Green Party votes for that upcoming elections, which has ruined Germany's industry competitiveness since years.
Free inflow of illegal immigrants who have brought social instability, overloaded the financial and managerial capacities of federal states public authorities, brought safety issues, and generated generalized hate, which affects everyone.
So, in hindsight, she was catastrophic for the country.
And this are the topics that just came to my mind now. There are more.
The SPD/Greens (left-wing parties) have been dragging the CDU into the left corner for more than 10 years (under the leadership of the CDU Chancellor). Conservative circles of the CDU have been silenced and cooperation (in parliament) with the AfD has been prevented by the firewall. This is an instrument of power that has been coated with moral sugar coating. In essence, however, it is only about the power of the left-wing party bloc, or rather maintaining it, possibly at the expense of the CDU.
Hüte dich vor den Ideen des Merz!
Oh, ein halbgebildeter Lifestyle Linker Staatskneteempfänger von der Empöria. Freut euch jetzt, denn eure Party ist vorbei. Weltweit.
Der ist gut!😄
Ideen?!
@@mreese8764 The Ides of March.
@@ruedigernassauer oder einfach auf deutsch "Iden des März"
Merz not only opened the door to right-wing extremists for a motion that purely populist and won't change anything, he also blew it and ridiculed his party.
Now left and right agree that you can't trust CDU especially on migration, and especially people that want stricter migration will now vote for the "original", the AfD, which is pretty much guaranteed to keep their word on this.
100% agree. personally I was weary of the CDU, since it was the union that was in power when the "problems" with migration started. So them proclaiming to have completely changed their ways seemed fishy.
I was hoping to avoid having to vote for the AfD, since everything they wanna do besides the migration changes are not in my interest. But since it's my main issue currently there isn't another party that I feel will actually represent me. besides npd lmao.
@bimpus69 Why is immigration your main issue, though? It's really not that big a deal in terms of material issues affecting Germany right now.
Like, I abhor right-wing anti-immigrant sentiment, but if my choice was between a) a party that's like the AfD but (somehow) agrees with me on immigration, or b) a non-insane party that's reactionary on immigration, I'd pick b) without a second thought.
@bimpus69 How the fuck can "getting rid of immigrants" be your "main issue" in Germany in 2025? We're literally headed for climate collapse. We're in the middle of a recession caused by decades of refusing to invest in public infrastructure and subsidising dying industries like fossil fuels, combustion engine vehicle manufacturing and aviation while cutting subsidies to technological innovation (remember how everyone was talking about solar and then wasn't? it wasn't a bubble, the conservatives simply killed the subsidies that allowed this tech to boom and this created a vacuum for us to be overtaken by China and the US). We have a failing and overloaded healthcare system because the FDP decided hospitals should be run like for-profit businesses maximizing shareholder value rather than providing value to their customers. And even the biggest failure of our immigration system is our anachronistic assumption that immigrants are temporary "guest workers" who will leave after a year or two and that refugees are cripples incapable of working who should best be confined to what amount to overcrowded jails instead of pursuing a career that might actually provide value to our society. But sure, the biggest problem is people who talk funny and have a bad attitude from hanging around people that don't like them all day while not being allowed to do anything meaningful.
@@HeadsFullOfEyeballs I think you should copy this answer as a seperately standing comment. Absolute majority of voters has never and will never be affected by migration policies, yet it is all you can hear about now.
Merz' whole schtick has been dipping a toe into the right wing pool and then shying away from jumping. It looks like he seriously thought he could do that again and once more get away with it, while scoring a political win.
For American English speakers: the verb "to table" has the exact opposite meaning in BrEng as in AmEng. In BrEng it means to "bring forward" whereas in AmEng it means to "set aside (for now)."
For clarification, a difference in meaning between British English and American English about the verb, "table." In the latter, to "table" something means to postpone or suspend consideration of the item indefinitely, usually to avoid further discussion or a vote on a controversial or sensitive issue. Andrew is British, so when he used the verb "table," he meant the Union formally introduced the item for discussion or debate.
Ah - I knew both meanings and found it confusing. Now I wonder how the meaning changed so drastically...
Thanks for that, I wasn't even aware table was a verb
6:31 Merz also tied his Candidacy to this promise. Since he broke his promise now, its only sensible to expect him to resign
Flintenuschi became EU president for screwing Germany for about half a billion. Scheuer "only" screwed us for about 50 millions and demanded a 12 headed pr team afterwards to push his damaged image (which he surely got. Why wouldn't he).
The time of modesty or resigning or simply even an excuse is long gone.
The people need to make those monsters feel fear consequences again or it will just get worse. Dire consequences. Not a slap on the wrist.
I don't think Merz is going to resign. He has been trying - and failing - to become chancellor for so long, he won't let this stop him. After all, this would require backbone, of which he has none.
If candidates had to resign if they went back on their promise we would have no candidates
While this is grim news I'm at least happy that a lot of people even in the CDU seem rightfully horrified about this breach in trust.
I would suggest voting against migration reform is an equally breach of trust and continuation of failed policy
Yeah terrible that he wanted to change the failed status quo on migration in an attempt to limit the amount of crime and attacks on German streets , 😱😱 how horrid , Sara wagenknecht was correct that blocking this reform will only embolden the afd as people will get more fed up with other parties
I have a horrible feeling it's deliberate provocation by Merz. He would probably take a job with the AFD. We've seen this sort of behaviour from the Tories in relation to Reform in the UK.
@@peterclarke7240 I see it as a first attempt at creating an ÖVP-FPÖ-like construct in Germany. Not a pleasant thought.
@@Ned-Ryerson Yep. I feel like Austria is a bit like Japan: they never really had to come to terms with what they did, because Germany took the moral and ethical hit, so now they sit around smugly being overtly racist and acting like they were the real victims all along.
9:10 another thing this all shows: Merz would have been chancellor pretty much without a doubt and the union as a member of the coalition. But instead, he pushed his right wing plan he exactly knew the other parties that might be in his future coalition would hate.
So he also showed he is extremely impatient and totally fine with gambling with politics. Who wants a chancellor like that?
Merz is Blackrock, nuff said
Merz is Mr. Montgomery Burns!
He is an entrepreneur. Enterprises are usually not democratic institutions: You have a boss and he gives the orders and everybody has to obey. This doesn't work in a democracy.
Tbf blackrock and wef have been pushing mass uncontrolled immigration for decades so if anything that would be most in line with the green immigration policy
@@jankrusat2150No, he is not. He was a lawyer for an investment company, and one of questionable moral standing, to boot. Before that, he was in the pay of the public, as he is now.
@@SDDT1 let me help you:
You don't need to drop out of the window on your third floor to leave the building. You could use just the stairs to get to the main entrance.
I'm so tired of living in interesting times.
It's worth noting that "illegal immigration" is a bit of a misnomer in the German context. By German law, you may enter the country without documentation (and outside of proper border crossings) if you intend to apply for asylum in good faith. Once your asylum has been rejected, you can be deported. Yet, crossing the border was still legal! However, even though it's legal for such would-be immigrants to enter, they don't have _right_ to do so. The German state may legally prevent them from entering. So, a lot of the debate is about how and whether to prevent such entry, and how to treat such immigrants if they are denied asylum. However, none of this concerns immigration that is illegal under German law. (German law, in this respect, is different from American, and I think, British law).
It's not illegal to enter the territory of a signatory to the refugee convention, including the United Kingdom, for the purpose of seeking asylum there.
International law trumps national law in this case; passing a domestic law does not absolve you of your treaty obligations.
The US is not a signatory.
Important explanation but it does require that you have been contacting the Ausländerbehörde or city to get register and you need apply for asylum (or for a protected status (often more common) .
Yes it is legal to enter
Once asylum is reject doed not mean that people have to leave. (Many can't return to another country because it isn't safe or document aren't provided by agencys) people have right to appeal and go to court. RECHTSTAATSGEBOT.
Asylum maybe denied but many still get a protected or temporary status like many syrians did.
@@paxundpeace9970 To expand on that, the vast majority of people don't get asylum, but are recognized as refugees or "subsidiär schutzberechtigt". No idea how to translate the last one, but it's the status you get when returning to your home country would expose you to serious risk of death or bodily harm. And it's perfectly legal.
None of them should have been allowed to even apply for asylum in Germany when we follow the laws, considering they've all come to Germany from safe countries with no reason to flee.
Some much needed context on the "murderous attacks by foreign nationals":
The vast majority of all violent immigrant crime happens within immigrant communities, often the result of poverty, being forced into stressful environments, and traumatic experiences while fleeing one's home country etc.
Not to mention the fact that violent crime has barely gone up in recent years, especially when adjusted for population growth - if anything, growing inequality has historically been far more reliable a predictor of crime surges than anything else.
Very true - and it's also important to mention that an AfD or CDU victory is likely to result in growing financial inequality.
Sure. Weihnachtsmarkt is a poor stressful environment. And it is absolutely saaafe now.
@@e11ogodo you think you sound smart?
if western countries are obliged to accept millions of "refugees" (the German word for asylum seeker nowadays) per year (and millions is not an exagerration here), then they should also have the right to enter the countries that cannot protect their own civilians and to restore order. This cannot work one way only.
@@ronald3836 Remind me Roland, how did that work out in the past? Is Afghanistan the exception or the rule?
Recently I caught myself the first time in my life thinking, that (although I'd never vote for them) the CDU is not that bad, considering certain conservative parties in other countries (looking at you, US). At least they uphold democratic values, are relatively moderate and able to make compromises........? Hahahahahaha......shame on me.
The most reasonable thing to do now would be for Merz to resign. His party will win the elections anyway.
If there's one guy who can bottle that election it's Merz. He reminds me of a German version of Hilary Clinton.
Even CDU hates him but they can't do nothing cause he's just somehow next in line and that's how it is. But I think we might be in for some more hilarity. I bet folks like Markus Söder are already scheming on his ass. 😂
We don't call them that in Germany because we don't like being reminded of why the Nazis came to power but "conservatism" is by definition a "right-wing" ideology. And as for why the Nazis came to power: it was the conservatives who helped them pass the Enabling Act. Specifically the _Christliche Mitte_, the Christian "political center-right" party. The CM barely even exists post-WW2 for obvious reasons but you don't need to look hard to realize what the modern equivalent is. And btw their motivation was to fight "the extreme left" and to maybe help reinstate the monarchy. I'm sure Merz would agree with the former and it wouldn't be too difficult to sell him on the latter as long as he got a lucrative position in it.
They not even holding up common sense for the consitution.
Germany is ein 'Rechtsstaat' bedeutet auch Asylsuchende haben anspruch auf ein Verfahren und die Möglichkeit dies von Gerichten prüfen zu lassen.
Merz wollte das Rechtsstaatsgebot ausheben.
No other country has this insane firewall rule.
@@ronald3836 We learned from our mistakes 90 years ago.
Thank you Rewboss for this analysis. Especially for delivering it so level-headed.
Remember guys, Merz aint Chancelor yet!! And he continues to Show why he shouldnt. So go vote, and talk to your CDU voters!
Who would you vote for then? The greens?
Isn't it time for a chancelor to be LGBT+?
Therfore Alice Weidel and the AfD.
@@GarethFaircloughRegardless of what you think about their policies, I think it's quite clear that Habeck would be the most competent and trustworthy chancellor.
@@kentknightofcaelin4537Habeck certainly shouldn't be chancellor during our current economic crisis - I don't like Merz but looking at the other options he might be the only chancellor that actually tries to fix our economy...
Problem is that Merz and his CDU are not only right winged. His Party - thanks to about 30% of Votes it's probably going to get - will be a fundamental Part of the System, which makes Germany itself right winged and more and more autocratic.
More or less autocratic are the left wingers. Every slightest diversion from their believes will be responded with Nazi, Faschist or in your words: autocratic. How many people have been jailed in GDR compared to (West-)Germany for political reasons?
Problem is that Merkel tried to surpass SPD on the left. Nowadays every left news magazine starts with "politics are turning to the right". I wonder where had the complains about "turning left" been when the traffic light coalition took over 3 years ago? By that logic we have already turned to the right so much that we are on the left now. What we see now is simply a correction of course for the CDU. But I doubt it is too much of a correction of course but an effort to overcome inaction.
SPD and Greens pretended too often to act in favor of the citizens. Never there was the slightest effort to do so, they simply refused to act at all. And CDU is afraid to get drowned if they partner with one of them without changing course. Obviously, as long as democratic parties do not change course they feed AFD (and others) until these will win elections. And then Germanyt may become kind of an autocracy.
Thus, if you refuse autocracy the smartest and only choice is CDU/CSU.
His full name is: Friedrich "The Weasel" Merz.
I think he took a page from the playbook of the Tories: Ponder only to the right and sacrifice the centre. Worked just fine for them....
Also, he said he is strengthened by the fiasco. Strengthened by loosing a vote. So, not only the worst strategist but also a bit dim, it seems.
you can't even trust a union member if he/she calls for help. I don't know what the people even expect.
Friedrich Merz is a person with quite a fragile ego and should be kept away from power as far as possible. Not to mention that he is constantly proposing political ideas that are decades old, have been tried over and over again, and brought us into the mess we are in. Which is why his fans love him, they want to travel back in time to a fantasised which world that never existed. It's a recipe for disaster...
It's never a good thing, when the election is "the most interesting in a long time".
Please don’t call him the new chancellor.
I’d like to pretend he won’t win for 3 more weeks at least.
You need a hug? A safe space? Please don't cry
Die beste Zusammenfassung, die ich bisher zum Thema gehört oder gelesen habe 👍
This election is going to be bonkers and I'm not looking forward to it in the least. I really hope that Union voters rethink their choice after Merz showed that the Brandmauer can be torn down so easily or never really existed in the first place.
yeah I hope CDU voters reconsider and go with AfD instead
Like most other politicians, Merz is a clown and has only his self interest in mind. He doesn't care about the average person, only about how to get thier vote and will discard them after he has it.
Nah he mostly has the interests of the Großkonzerne lobby in mind: BASF & Blackrock especially. It's not a coincidence that the Walhprogramm of the CDU is basically identical to the demands of the chemical industry
stop calling him a clown; that makes him look like the weak person he actually is on the inside, call him evil, because that‘s what he is. an evil monster.
Very informative. Thank you.
3:55 obviously the issue is not the laws but how they are being implemented, the bureaucracy, and the lack of digitalization. This is even clear from when a legal immigrant tries to get residents permit or visa, the waiting period can be months and sometimes people have been reported to sleep the night before at the immigration offices so they can be the first in the line. What kind of treatment is that for someone who is highly skilled worker and pays more taxes than an average German citizen.
The question is who is responsible for this kind of implementation of broken system for immigration. Wasn't it the CDU who was in charge for 16 years of Germany and that is the one who implemented this system. Not to mention it is the CDO that was in charge when whole world was adopting to technology, but the regressive and conservative policies of CDU held back Germany both technologically and economically.
You are right that (former) CDU voters are angry. I wrote a letter to my MP for the first time in my life to let him know he’s lost my confidence. To be fair, I wouldn’t have given my Zweitstimme to the CDU anyway this election, but the Erststimme was still up in the air before this. Disgraceful.
The politicians feel the pressure from their voters from letters. It changes more than one would believe.
@@SDDT1 He’s in the Bundestag via direct mandate and halfway down the CDU’s Landesliste. If he loses enough voters from his district, he may well lose his seat even if his party wins the election.
Cynicism is not a useful way of engaging with the political system.
A greedy, old man that only looks out for himself and other rich people. Can't get much more stereotypical.
Could be part of the FDP to complete the stereotype
Great video, verry informative, thank you.
I would like to announce here that I am available as chancellor
Make me your minister of finance!
What's your stance on trans rights?
@ Well, mine is: "Trans rights are human rights."
I would also be willing to take the role of chancellor, if needed.
@ Good to know. If you need an Android app for your campaign, you can get it for the small price of promising to get me legally into the country some time before I perish 😁
@@kaworunagisa4009 lol
I work in IT, and also am interested in politics. I never made the connection in my head that "Brandmauer" is the same word as "firewall". I feel stupid.
yeah same here xD
Why did Merz take the risk and not wait until the election to vote on the law?
My guess is that, since the attack in Aschaffenburg happened so close to the election, he wanted to take advantage of the inevitable anti-immigration sentiment and be seen as The Man Who's Doing Something About Terrorism before the AfD could get that credit. I suspect he simply didn't think any further than that.
@@rewbossI think he wants to get his policies through before the election, because he knows that after the election, he will have to form a coalition with another party, and since the AfD is off the table, the FDP is too weak, if they make it at all, that leaves only SPD and/or the Greens, and both of them would never ever allow for his migration policies to be passed.
@@rewboss Miscalculation a la Cameron to defeat the far right while bashing the left...
@@rewboss I wonder how Merz plans to govern with SPD and Grünen, when he wants to stop Familiennachzug and the others don't. Mainly because it is illegal and would never pass the Bundesrat. The law failed to pass today, but the composition of the Bundestag will be different after the election. It is very possible that AfD + Union get more than half the seats. What then? Just how important is this law for him? Enough to refuse to form a coalition with SPD and/or Grünen?
@@saadisavehe wants basically the same as the AfD anyway. Immigration will be a pretext for a coalition with the AfD, which will massively cut taxes for the rich and the welfare state. Same thing as Trump and all other populist rightwingers.
Please don‘t call him the next chancellor. He hasn‘t been elected yet and I hope he never will be.
A great and detailed appreciation of the past week. I am so grateful for the dry humour.
Very accurate assessment. Thank you for your work.
idk if i‘m the only one bothered but this, but can‘t you say „possible chancellor“ in the title?
@percy_peace_ I agree, but what didn't you include: "lets hope for it"
Great summery. But let's not forget about the FDP. They also voted with the union and the afd and they were pretty much the reason todays vote failed. I am sure Christian Lindner is done in the fdp after the election.
New voters will always be dumb enough to revive that corpse of a liberal party. They had the youth vote the previous time and the children in four years will be just as moronic as they were four years ago, just with an even more limited attention span.
Lindner is very popular among young neoliberals, that man is like a bloody cockroach and always finds a way to come back even when he utterly fails and humiliates himself
I think the only reason he's still party-leader is that nobody wants to shoulder the thankless task of trying to save the party's reputation (and future).
The FDP is done entirely
He should have been done a long time ago; maybe then the FDP would still be a viable party.
I just remember the previous election where Armin Laschet was in favor of winning with the union and than had a little scandal (so little it’s not even worth mentioning if you’d compare it to merz breaking the Fire wall) he laughed on camera in the background at an event for victims of a flooding. This laughing got many people to think he has bad manners and they switched from CDU to SPD
Assuming that he will actually become Chancellor at this point.
He has effectively betrayed not only the trust of many Union Voters but has also made clear that he will not make any concessions in a coalition and that he will use the Far Right Votes if necessary.
So neither the Green nor the SPD can possibly form a Coalition with him unless he goes back on these Statements. But him going back on these would be the End of his Political Career.
So at this Point. The only Way I See him becoming Chancellor would be to form a Coalition with the AFD. But that as well would effectively End his Political Career. And quite Possibly it would result in his Government Failing faster than the Ampel.
That however is also the one Silver Lining on this.
If Merz really goes into a Coalition with the AFD. The Union will completely Destroy itself in the Process. And likely also Damage the AFD. With the Government Failing pretty Quickly.
So if this happens it will at least come with the Benefit of Merz Finally being out Forever.
Anyway. Great Explanation. Cheers to That.
And Yeah....
I sure would love to Live in less Interesting Times....
He shouldn't make consessions. Among all voters he is in the middle. His law had wide support in the population even 65% of SPD voters supported it.
@@christopherstein2024 And I suppose You can back up these Numbers somehow ? :)
@@Gilder-von-Schattenkreuz Isnt it obvious: What ever the afd wants is the will of the silent majority. Everything that opposes this is just because of the brainwashing of the evil state media 🤖
This is what AfD voters actually believe
Sneakily flipping on his statements is what he does. This is not a career ending maneuvre you seem to think it is.
@ Yes I have to make a correction though. The approval was at 66% among Germans and 56% among SPD voters. The survey was conducted by INSA, you can read more about in in the Tagesspiegel 31.01.2025
Very good analysis.
I'm mystified. You manage to inform me better than mainstream German news (tagesschau), and not because I think that there's a conspiracy going on, but because they just seem to do an awful job -- or you to do a very good job. The point about permanent border control and the Schengen agreement was enlightening to me, this should have been in our mainstream news.
Regular media DOES do a terrible job. They are chasing headlines and public opinion instead of trying to objectively inform about reality.
Part of the problem is simply assuming he will be the next chancellor and rolling with it media wide. talk about free advertisement.
You might have stated that the actual enforcement of the immigration rules is a state matter, and not under the jurisdiction of Scholz's federal government. And several of the attacks have happened in states governed by the CDU or CSU.
Only half true as the minister for the interior still sets border security and asylum policy etc and then works with the states on its implementation
@@SDDT1 Cases like the the attack in Magdeburg which was committed by a guy who lived here since 2006 and worked as a doctor have very little to do with border security.
And that parts of what Merz wanted was against European law, so not doable anyway.
@@Raider_MXDand was an afd supporter as well.
do you realy believe that Aschaffenburg is in Bavaria? you must be from Bielefeld - If only the Söder knew
very good and correct analysis. thank you and best regards from Germany
There could also be a thing called 'Minderheitsregierung' a Minority Government, where the governing Coalition does not have the Majority, so they have to get votes from other Parties to pass laws
Well, that's the situation we're in now. Because we now have a de facto minority government, the opposition was able to get a motion passed against the wishes of the government.
How are you calling him chancellor when we havent even voted yet, in BW its on the 23. Feb...
Till now the logic was simple: if you want a right wing approach to immigration, voting the AfD is useless, because they will never pass laws.
Therefore you have to vote CDU/CSU if you actually care about reasonable immigration legislation, and voting AfD is symbolically only, voting the AfD makes only sense when you aren't for reasonable right wing policy, but, well, are somewhat on the Nazi line of reasoning.
This reasoning was destroyed by Merz.
From now on goes: voting AfD will make right wing legislation more likely.
From now on the fascists have a way easier time to market themselves.
Merz is an idiot.
Or, he actually does want a coalition with the fascists.
But it is way more likely that he is just an idiot.
Fascism is a mighty word. Don't use it if you don't understand what it means.
@@iexist.imnotjoking5700
The road to fascism is littered with people denying it’s happening.
Very informative, thanks for your perspective.
In Poker, if you go "all in" and lose - you have a good chance of just being kicked out.
One of politics basic rules: never copy the (populist) ideas of other parties. The copy is always worse than the original.
This knowledge exists almost literally in Germany, but Merz does not take this into account
to be fair - we had formerly different polical firewalls (aka "Brandmauern") against new political forces
in the 80ies it was against the new green party... it was tried to not work with them, especially from the SPD because they didn't want to empower the close political opponent... and for some conservatives the greens are still untouchable... or to go more rightwing and call them "Ökofaschisten"...
after reunification... the post SED-Party, the PDS, now the Linke... was untouchable behind a firewall... especially the CDU with their "red-socks-campaign" made clear that every working together with the former communists isn't tolerable... - the SPD listend much too long to this and went from a "Volkspartei" (catch-all-party) from about 40% to the now known 15-20% in the process of not working with a new party close to the own political agenda...
in both cases the firewalls didn't held the parties back... but gave the political climate and those parties time to find together.... acceptance in public and being less radical for the parties...
now we have the firwall against the AfD.... it wont work, of course not, for ever....
of course its different - its right wing this time and not left wing... the AfD still seems to get more radical than less radical...
but the bigger question for me is... will the CDU make the same fault as the SPD... and lose its status als Volkspartei... by denying rightwing political majorities as the SPD denied leftwing majorities for too long.... or will it make another fault as working with a still radical party - like in the 30ies the NSDAP was empowered by working with them... or will something completly new happen? i think we will see....
for my personal democratic view... its good that the CDU steps back to where it belongs to.... not as the only party of the middle - but as party of right of the middle...
giving some more space to its political opponents left of the middle to make that 50/50 again... and finally take a party programm like it should be... spreading so far right, that there is no space for any democratic party more rightwing of it.... thats how our political system was designed - and how it should be...
There is a fault in the firewall to te AFD. If the AFD is a lawful party, the time to get accoustomed with them is over. It's important for democracy that matters can be discussed in parliament between all parties. Firewalls have to be the exception.
But if the AFD is unlawful, it should be illegal. No firewall should be necessary, but they shouldn't be allowed to run for the election.
The CDU was never middle. It was always right of the middle or right. Currently I see them more right than right of the middle.
All these shinanigans have nothing to do with democracy. Democracy is about doing what the people want. This hunger games style democracy where you have one election to legitimize everything and then the parties do everything in their might to follow their own interests is shamefull and it's the reason why modern democracies are so split.
If people want protection of the enviroment they should get it. If the people no longer want immigration it should be stopped.
@olivers.7821 in my eyes it was and still is. After the SPD went downhill Merkel led the CDU from the center right party to a party of the middle - abandoning the far right for the mid voters which fell off the SPD. Abandoning the right wing so that this space opened for the AfD. Thats why there was/is almost no government against the party possible anymore.
In my eyes the CDU/CSU is far left from what it was in the 80ies where, as F.J.Strauss said: there shall be no legal party more rightwing than the Union. Thats at least my view.
@@joachimfrank4134There is one problem with this: The AfD may be illegal by law, but you can not forbid the party because it has 20% percent of voters behind it. If you tried even if you are right you take a huge risk in terms of the stability of the society and the democratic system.
(Most of the voters of the AfD would not agree with such a decision, does not matter how well the argument is made)
the most interesting part was german newspapers keeping quiet about the proposal meant to cut peoles privacy rights substantially and focused almost solely on reporting on the migration proposal. its also important to know that was just a campaign move to gain voter momentum that it lost to the AfD over the migration topics. this proposal would never have made it anyway so it was just some hot air mixed with breaking the taboo of working together with the AfD in the Bundestag. its just a loose/loose for the CDU/CSU because they did not expect people to see the obvious stunt and they by breaking the taboo made voters coming from the center rethink their stance. they basically strengthened their enemies to the left and to the right. merz deserves to fail at this election.
Friedrich Merz is not without controversy in his CDU. He had to step down under Merkel because he was too far to the right. Merkel (CDU) sought a centrist policy with the SPD. Merz didn’t fit in there.
In the next parliament, Merz will have problems reaching an agreement with the SPD and is therefore looking for a majority on the right. But that annoys the moderate wing of the CDU.
On the other hand, Merz persuades voters who are between the CDU and the SPD to choose the SPD.
Thank you for putting this into clear and still somewhat objective words.
1:42 "This was a motion". ... not legally binding similar to 🇬🇧 June 2016 🗳️ referendum was a motion (recommendation) not legally binding 🤔
There's a difference, I think, between a very large percentage of the population voting in a referendum after being told the government promised to implement the result, and about 700 politicians voting on a wish-list.
4.20 that agreement was even a main idea of Merz that he spoke out himself in the Bundestag last November.
In my opinion it doesn't really matter how the election ends, the government will be terrible anyways.
Next 4 years gonna be very fun :|
Direct democracy is the only hope. The current system doesn't work
Very informative video, thank you for explaining
With all the protests happening in the Hessen area it's really confusing.
apparently 5k in Darmstadt
A very left-leaning video. Entertaining, but not representative at all, as the polls show.
Not that I ever trusted Merz to begin with ...
Excellent. Thank you
kein Merz im Februar!
Kein kanzler merz im märz
Ok..🥱
Small correction: Michel Friedman's fist name is pronounced [miˈʃɛl], he is Franco-German.
The question is whether the voters (and maybe his own party) will trust Merz, not so much whether the SPD and Greens do. If the trust inside the CDU is low enough, maybe we can get a different Union chancellor instead.
would be great. German saying is "Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt"
Neither the Greens nor the SPD are obliged to make Merz chancellor, and I hope they won't.
@@SomePotato and what than? SPD and Greens dont come close to any majority and are lucky to get more together than the AFD:..
I don't think there's anyone in the CDU with a chance of toppling Merz and becoming party-leader.
@@SomePotatoi hope they will if it comes to that, the alternatives are worse.
american in Germany here. appreciate these insights!
Top commentary, thanks for mapping it all out!
As a German, I never liked his guy. He had always been a very unpleasant person who strongly dislikes immigrants and young people in general. It's still baffling to me that this is what the CDU has to offer after Angela Merkel retired (I don't count the clown Armin Laschet because he didn't last long).
Thousands of people keep demonstrating against the AfD and now Friedrich Merz as well because of his little stunt. If he's willing to basically blackmail the other parties to break EU guidelines, who knows what else he's going to do next.
You almost nailed it. You said courts assessed the AfD being against the constitution, but it was only assessed for parts of the AfD officially by now.
Emphasis on "officially" and " by now".
If you listen to or read what the party members say and write, especially when they think they're among themselves and non one's watching, it's really quite clear.
@ ofc I torally think the whole party is against the constitution. Also there seems to be a report of the Verfassungsschutz that is not published yet that seems to suggest the same. I’m just saying that all the official reports are for parts of the party and not the party as whole.
@@martinpallmann Non of the reports on these issues are public.
@@christopherstein2024 Because there is NOTHING to make it public?
@ not true. Please google “Verfassungsschutzbericht Sachsen-Anhalt” or “Verfassungsschutzbericht Sachsen” or “Verfassungsschutzbericht Thüringen”. You should find the reports.
Thanks for the comprehensive summary, finally I can understand what TF is going on at the Bundestag.
Just theater short before election!
Concise overview. Danke!
I really don't like that the politicians make immigration the most important topic. There are quite a few more important topics we have in Germany
It is not just the politicians, but much more disturbingly the media. It is funny how they don't even bother to report on the plans of Die Linke to deal with the housing crisis. Oh well, another 4 years where nobody is doing anything while they trade living space as if it was tulips
There really isn’t , because migration is directly linked to most forms of crime increasing , house prices increasing , a increased tax deficit and therefore less spend per head , poor integration and fracturing of local communities , more strain on utilities and services , demand for new housing and associated roads in green sites which destroys local environment , general depreciation of local customs and identity
@@SDDT1 this is simply not true
Excelent analysis. 👍
iam not entirely sure "interesting" is the word i would choose to describe this election
It's the same 'interesting' as in "we live in interesting times".
There will be a coalition between the AfD and the CDU sooner or later, because many AfD members are former CDU members and both parties share huge similarities in the fields of immigration and the economy. Its common practice across Europe.
That would be a huge cut. CDU/CSU are strongly connected with the main churches in Germany and these have recently warned not to vote for AFD. Remind that churches have been silent regarding elections the last 50 years. This breakage would be more severe than the recent lie of Merz (in hindsight, expected due to his character).
"The weak are a long time in politics" - so, sadly, get used to seeing a lot of Merz.....🤮
3:30 just for reference the statically safest years in the history of Germany were 2023 2022 2021 and 2021. Number for 2024 are yet to be finalized and published. the idea of making Germany safe again is inherently flawed and something no politician can actually achieve as you need to fix a problem that isn't one.
also according to the CDU the churches are now left wing and green. i think that should tell you all about what to expect with the union.
The churches´ membership has fallen below 50 %. It used to be almost 100 %. They keep being in free fall. What used to be a nice community has become a highly politicized thing. I stepped out in the year 2016 as they appealed to their members to not vote for AfD without reasoning why. By my request I was referred to an interview about border control. In that year the Evangelical church set up a branch office in Brussels to lobby the European parliament. Refugees, the elderly, healthcare, kindergartens and even housing in general are big business to the churches. Besides that we have a church tax deducted from one´s income and direct payment of the state to the churches as an apparently eternal retribution to their losses in power. The bishops and others are directly paid by the German state.
Merz is a fool. Why would citizens vote AfD light (CDU/CSU) when you can vote AfD?
Indeed, at this point they are really just the less respectable copy.
I know one person that does so. Before "AfD light" was supposedly the FDP.
They might be MAGA. Some People hate Islam, but love the USA. Theese would possibly vote the anti-migration CDU.
Also Blackrock-Backed Merz doesn't have a problem with "Racism". He fears people seizing power who would terminate western values - AfD or BSW.
Because afd won’t get into parliament coalition while the csu is certain to be the biggest party
Maybe because the AfD has a bunch of stupid takes on Russia?
Why don't the greens and spd do a pre poll alliance?wouldn't that improve their chance of winning?
Wait? Merz sais protecting innocent life is inportant now? So will the CDU start fighting global warming? Would love to see that.
No, no, only innocent life in Germany. With a German citizenship. As long as it doesn't have dual citizenship. Wait, doesn't that exclude most Jewish people? Oh, I'm sure that's a complete accident.
Of course not. It's only important to protect (German) people from non-Germans, or even non-native Germans. And he appears to either firmly believe that, or decided that he cannot back down because that would be admission of being wrong. He seriously brought up the suggestion to strip legally German citizens of their citizenship in case of criminal activities, provided they have a second citizenship to fall back to. (As otherwise that would be blatantly illegal according to international laws and treaties.)
Also there's a deep rivalry (at least from his perspective) with Angela Merkel, who kept him out of leading positions while she was active, and recently even reacted to his nonsense, straight-up calling it "wrong". I wouldn't be surprised if this is a spite reaction by him, in a desperate attempt to prove her wrong, and to prove to himself that he is competent enough to lead the party as future chancellor. This man has deep personality issues.
Yeah you said it yourself. GLOBAL warming. As of today, co2-emissions per capita is lower in Germany than in China. The US will leave paris again now. Germany has already done more than enough. And Germany wont stop Global Warming even if we demolished our industry entirely.
Well the worlds highest emitters are China by a long way to they can’t actually change that much without China Changan its policy , while German government has sovereignty over their borders
Difference is he can actively change legislation to improve safety in his own country but requires the by in of higher carbon producing states such as China for any chance for progress
I think this ordeal might cost him the election, but I guess we'll see.
Merz is an absolute nutcase.
The election is in three weeks, and I genuinely don't know who to vote for. Just like in other countries, I'll vote just so I can vote against the AfD, but that's about it. While I (like many others) despise the fact that the CDU did this, I also know that the laws around migration need to change. But the SPD and the Greens are just utterly incompetent in this topic. Sure, I've heard how it's all everyone else's fault, how the laws exist and are not being implemented correctly etc. But fact is, we've had 4 years of SPD/Green/FDP and 16 years of CDU-led government before that, and none were able to solve this issue. And from what I hear from SPD/Greens (opposing literally anything that might lead to actual change) if they remain in power it's just gonna get worse and feed the AfD more votes.
So TL;DR: CDU - Merz wtf + Merkel started a lot of the current issues, FDP - nope after the whole D-Day thing, SPD/Greens - incompetent when it comes to migration, BSW - putin ally, AfD - hell no
All the rhetoric about migration is just there to distract us from talking about actually relevant topics. There is no actually serious problem with immigration.
A left government without the obstructionists from the FDP would be nice for a change. I'll vote for Die Linke this time because I think their voice would be dearly missed from parliament and also they are guaranteed not to make Merz chancellor.
Depends on what you want. For myself i always use the Whal-o-Mat to learn, that i will vote green and left anyways, because they care the most about my desires. But in this case of elections we have to also be a bit strategic, i guess like always, vote the less worst. You can't get anything anyways, so probably go for most things whats important to you, thats were i 100% ended up Green and Left on top. The Left with Heidi Reichinnek would be a huuuuuuge win for us and they are also the most transparent, non-corrupt party, wanting to give us the most in points of income, pension, child-support, minimum wage,... and so on, maybe give them a try!
The firewall is deeply antidemocratic. German politics has hijacked itself into eternal leftwing politics because never ever may the AfD be allowed to be decisive for a majority vote.
@@Aliasdd07 A post-factual CDU that embraces Trumpism is very dangerous. And we should ban the AfD.
You only need to remove one letter from his nane to unmask his true identity. A joke.
How about the CDU/CSU throwing away Merz as Spitzenkandidate, with them in coalition with the SPD and Greens or one of them, and choosing another member of the Union from its moderate faction or a technocratic leader as Mario Draghi had done or in the Netherlands, some director of some agency was made prime minister?
This close to an election, ditching Merz and nominating somebody else as chancellor-candidate could damage the party even further. But legally speaking, the chancellor doesn't have to be the leader of the biggest party, or even a member of the Bundestag: in theory anyone who can get more than 50% of the members to vote for them can get the job.
That would be, AFAIK, unprecedented, and probably be very unpopular among voters (they would complain it was a "bait-and-switch" operation, because the perception is that we vote for the chancellor, even though in fact we don't).
@rewboss Even you could be appointed chancellor by Steinmeier. Bringing up the possibility of the technocrat before the vote happens would be one way of avoiding any sense of betrayal.
@@rewboss
> anyone who can get more than 50% of the members to vote for
Andrew, I think you were the better person. And it doesn't matter that you are not a candidate.
That would be great so the AfD can have 40+% in the next election! Support it!
I just want to say what I notice under me and my friends: I have a lot of friends with different political views. One is a SPD voter, one is an overall left voter. One is a green voter. One is likely to vote for the AFD, two are CDU Voter, and two are considering between die Linke, SPD and Volt.But one thing we could all agree on: We hate Friedrich Merz, and that BSW is shit
all democratic parties should insist that Merz has to bear responsibility for his actions this week resign in order for them to be open for a coalition with the CDU. A coalition with the CDU is unavoidable, unless there is a massive change in the election result compared to what polling over the last weeks suggests (which unfortunately still doesn't seem likely). But a coalition with Merz might be. For the remaining moderates in his party, that could be the opportunity to force him out. We have to recall that it took him three tries to get voted in as party leader, so there is clearly significant in-party opposition to him, even though most people on the parliamentary group don't have the balls or spine to oppose him.
Heck, a CDU representative was the one to push for parliament to start a trial to ban the AfD. Merz looks like he is in control of his party, but that might be a false impression.
The same for Scholz and Habeck who are now personal responsible for every crime of illegal migrants..
Another interesting factor: The apparant revival of Die Linke. Suddenly there is a lot of attention placed on them
And completely unjustified at that.
@@harmless6813...why?
@ Because they have nothing of substance to offer.
I was walking with my golden retriever next to a bunch of election posters, and he stopped at Merz one, didn’t want to continue and started barking at it. And he loves everyone. If a golden dislikes you, you’re probably a psycho.
Probably the smell of some unwashed linke voter tried to destroy it and now had his body odour all over the poster
very good summary
Why wouldn't I trust someone piloting his own passenger jet to have my best interest in mind? We fellow jet owners always trust each other.
Möllemann, someone?
Wow, another one of the higher middle class. Wow :)
Merz flies his own plane. I think one trusts pilots in flight because their own life is at stake with yours if they make a mistake. That does not apply to the "pilot" of a government. Whatever they have done and however much the people suffered they can usually leave with a golden handshake. Take Lizz Truss as a good (bad) example.
@@brilantoHe was a parachute jumper and committed s**cide by not opening has parachute.
12 CDU politicians were not present at the vote on the law. These 12 votes prevented a majority in favor of the law.
If "protecting people's lifes" was the governments highest aim, we would have a max speed of 100 kph on the Autobahn for decades.
You forgot a 15 kph limit and mandatory wearing of helmets for cyclists, as well as license plates, insurance, winter tires in adverse conditions, the same fines for non-compliance with the rules as for motor vehicle drivers, etc. Every life counts.
These are the same people that have a Toyota car that can't accelerate past 90kph😂
We don't want a Nanny-State. We want a state, that punishes those who ( *intentionally* and *directly* ) violate a citicians right, and keeps out of their private life. The Citicians in return pais taxes and serves as conscript.
And if you Nationalize the Heavy Industry, introduce forced labour for all ages instead of Wellfare and demand 30% Tarifs on all Imports, there won't be much taxes needed.
More importantly: Proper public transport making that debate obsolete.
@@Ribulose15diphosphat More Germans get killed by Germans driving too fast on the Autobahn (which is intentionally, and directly killing) than Germans being killed by muslim "knifemen". The latter gets waves of "OH NOO!!" while every solution to the first gets opposed by the same people.
That has nothing to do with nanny state, just basic logic and decency that is lacking.
Oh no. This will not be forgotten. For a long time i was worried about the political shift to the right, about a party that one of its highest functionaires (former cdu) proclaimed: "the third reich was a mere fly droppings worth in the over 1000 year history of Germany", gaining more power election by election, but i was ensured, that ALL of the major parties would do anything to prevent them to get an ounce of legislative power. This consensus (which was established at the foundation of the GFR), has been broken. Twice now, but at least the law the union wanted to pass, didn't. Now i'm not worried, i am angry. And so are millions of other germans. As they say: NEVER AGAIN IS NOW