This could also be titled 'Perhaps the last big tent party', as the German conservatives grapple with the inevitable fall-out of their decline and defeat in September.
After a resounding defeat in the German federal election, where 16 years of conservative rule came to an end, the CDU is trying to put the party on a new footing. But it is clearly struggling to rebrand conservatism.
“Generating energy from friction,” “focusing on the joint big picture,” — the parties likely to form Germany’s new government are competing for the blandest metaphors in an effort to signal love, peace, and harmony within the budding three-way alliance.
On 27 September, the German social democrat SPD gave bouquets of flowers to the party’s election-winning candidates: Olaf Scholz for winning across Germany, Franziska Giffey for winning Berlin, and Manuela Schwesig for winning Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Last week, the EU’s General Court handed the European Commission a major defeat when it struck down the EU's fisheries agreement with Morocco on the grounds that it also, illegally, covered Western Sahara.
The cards for the German Bundestag have been reshuffled, and the parties are preparing to launch the old mating ritual known as 'coalition talks'. Yet, with the new parliament facing an unprecedented degree of fragmentation, these talks are likely to be long and exhausting. Welcome to a Dutch-style German parliament.
With the new German parliament likely to be more fragmented after the federal election on Sunday (September 26), several small parties are preparing themselves to play a kingmaker role in the subsequent coalition-building talks.
It was supposed to be the most important and intriguing German election in 16 years. After all, Angela Merkel, easily Europe’s most influential political figure in the 21st century, is leaving the political stage for good.
The ongoing Black Lives Matter protests have generated a reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality in the United States and in Europe, perhaps like never before. In addition to demanding wide-reaching reforms, many have started to take the time...
The Cold War has faded into history but it was replaced by a media war which rages above all on the internet. Fake news play a major role now, argues Herbert Vytiska from EURACTIV Germany.
After the Brexit vote and Trumps election in 2016, the defence union came to the fore of the EU integration plans. The past EU summit showed that progress has obviously been made, writes Steffen Stiehle of EURACTIV Germany.
The electoral victory of Czech politician Andrej Babiš, who based his campaign on opposition to refugee migration, is causing concern. While critics condemn his stance, he searches for allies in Eastern Europe and beyond. EURACTIV's media partner "Der Tagesspiegel" reports.
For more than a month, a bitter struggle has ensued between Kurds and Islamists in Kobane (Arabic: Ain al-Arab). If the Syrian Kurdish town, on the border with Turkey, falls into the hands of the IS, this will be more than just another military victory for the "Islamic State", writes Gülistan Gürbey. If the international community continues just watching, Kobane may soon be mentioned in the same breath as Srebrenica and Rwanda, as a synonym for the failure of the international community.
