The German Ampel, the so-called Traffic Light government coalition, is now history. Its collapse came on November 6th, just hours after Donal Trump’s election victory across the ocean. Germans won’t be voting for their next government on September 28, 2025, as originally scheduled; instead, snap elections will take place by the end of March at the latest, potentially even sooner. This will be one of Germany’s rare early votes – the last was in 2005 – in a country where political stability is the norm, making government crises all the more disruptive.
Analyses
Europe
- Luca Sebastiani 5 November 2024The October 26 elections and the developments that followed have drawn international attention to Georgia in a way not seen for some time. This interest arose both from the uncertainty surrounding the vote and, especially, from the broader historical and political context: the ongoing war in Ukraine, renewed debates about European Union expansion, and concurrent, hotly contested elections and referendums in Moldova.
- Fabio Turco 29 October 2024“Regain control, ensure security.” This is the slogan of a draft law promoted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and adopted by his government to outline the country’s migration strategy from 2025 to 2030. The proposal has sparked intense debate due to its strict measures, particularly the option to suspend the right to asylum when deemed necessary. Tusk aims to nearly eliminate “illegal” immigration by pursuing a radical approach, enacting measures that conflict with the Geneva Convention, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and even Poland’s own Constitution.
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- Lorenzo Monfregola 24 September 2024In Germany, September dealt a harsh blow to Olaf Scholz’s Ampel, the “Traffic light” coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, and Liberals. Elections on September 1 in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony underscored the government’s deepening crisis. While the September 22 vote in Brandenburg brought a faint glimmer of hope, particularly for the SPD, it was far from a solid win for the Ampel. Nationwide polls continue to show strikingly low support for Scholz’s cabinet, raising doubts about its ability to hold together until the next national election, set for September 2025.
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- Alessandra Tommasi 10 August 2024Twenty years later, the idea of a populist Zeitgeist—which Mudde titled his article after—seems less visionary as right-wing and far-right parties proliferate across Europe, both at the national level and within the EU. Some of these parties, like Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, have risen to power, albeit in coalition, becoming Italy’s leading party with a solid 28.8 percent. Others, such as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, have gained significant influence, coming third in the French legislative elections, just behind the cordon sanitaire between Macron and the Nouveau Front Populaire.
- Seán Golden 26 July 2024Labour’s victory might be seen as the final rejection of the revolution begun in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher in the UK and by Ronald Reagan in the US, loyal followers of the theories of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. The immediacy of current affairs impedes historical hindsight, but many of the problems that led to the Tories’ demise and brought Labour back to power have their roots in Neoliberalism. Today the social, economic, and political models that evolved from classical liberalism have entered into crisis.
- Massimo Nava 11 July 2024A republican jolt, a democratic tremor, a belated injection of prudence and wisdom. The descriptions of the historical and incredible result of the snap elections in France have been abundant. In just seven days, between the first and second rounds, the political majority shifted from the far right to the far left. The majority of the French, from a host of backgrounds, blocked the path of the National Rally, the party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, who went from euphoria to despair in the same breath.
- Albena Azmanova 6 June 2024The far right is poised to make dramatic gains in the European elections this weekend. One could draw hope from an increase in the youth vote. Turnout among the young has been rising in national and European elections. Moreover, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Malta are extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds (and Greece to 17-year-olds). The latest Eurobarometer registers a fairly high interest in the elections among voters under 24, with most (63 percent) vouching to vote and an overwhelming majority (86 percent) agreeing voting is important to keep democracy strong.