German Politics: There is an Alternative

CALM down. So suggested Angela Merkel, the chancellor and also leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), following the state elections in Thuringia and Brandenburg on September 14th. After all, the CDU gained votes in both states, taking 33.5% in Thuringia, where it came first (as it has done ever since unification in 1990), and 23% in Brandenburg, where it has replaced the ex-communist Left to come second to the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). How can this be considered a crisis?Let us count the ways. In Thuringia the CDU’s victory was marred because a majority (of one seat) could now be achieved by a coalition of the three left-leaning parties—the Left, the SPD and the Greens—as well as by the outgoing coalition of the CDU and the SPD. So the CDU could yet lose control of the state. In Brandenburg the SPD will decide whether to continue ruling with the Left or switch to a coalition with the CDU. For the CDU, neither prospect is alluring.However the bigger crisis in both states was the success, following Saxony on August 31st, of the Alternative for Germany. Formed only last year and led largely by CDU defectors, the Alternative wants to unravel the euro. With its support for traditional families and its bracing talk on crime and immigration, it is selling itself as a conservative party of the kind the CDU was before Mrs Merkel took charge.This…

The Economist: Europe