Episode 59: Germany’s Shifting Political Landscape—State Election Edition #2

This month’s election in Germany’s largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, saw a resurgence of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), growing support for the Green Party, further decline of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and a slump for the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Just a week earlier in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, the CDU scored a major victory and the Greens became the second largest party ahead of the SPD and the FDP, its coalition partners in the federal government led by Chancellor Scholz. On this episode of the Zeitgeist, AICGS President Jeff Rathke, AICGS Senior Fellow and Director of Society, Culture, and Politics Program Eric Langenbacher and AICGS Non-Resident Senior Fellow Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger discuss the national (and local) significance of these elections and their importance for German political parties. Are the election successes for the Greens indicative of public endorsement for the party’s clear and tough value-based foreign policy stance? Can the CDU’s recent election victories be attributed to its party leader Friedrich Merz? How could the SPD’s weakened local political support affect Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s leadership and the German government’s policies? Host Jeff Rathke, President, AICGS Guest Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, AICGS Non-Resident Senior Fellow Eric Langenbacher, AICGS Senior Fellow; Director, Society, Culture & Politics Program