| Konjunkturflaute — economy in the doldrums. That is the term to learn this week. How to avert Germany’s economic decline is the debate of the day. Not all parties believe that throwing public money at the problem will solve it, writes DW’s Volker Witting.
The worrying economic statistics come against a backdrop of general concern. Germany’s middle class is feeling insecure: worn down by a pandemic, frightened by war, unsettled by the climate crisis, and existentially attacked by rising prices.
Small and medium-income earners see their income shrink, see schools lacking teachers and school buildings in decay, see dilapidated roads and public transport as they commute to work and struggle to find affordable housing.
Many feel the government caters only to the elites and the part of the population that feels unheard is open to populist rhetoric. As the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) continues to capitalize on this, more voters want it to no longer be treated as a political pariah — that’s according to the latest “Deutschlandtrend” survey.
While the parties on the center-left and center-right of the political spectrum seem unable to attract the disgruntled, a figure from the far-left is seen to have potential: Sahra Wagenknecht, a frequent guest on talk shows who does not mince words and draws applause also from AfD supporters.
Wagenknecht is — still — the most prominent member of the Left Party, which was once the voice of those in formerly communist eastern Germany who were feeling left behind after Germany’s reunification. Its leaders still seek to cater to the underprivileged with lower incomes, but they are also seen to be courting disappointed Green Party voters who feel that their party has put government pragmatism over idealism and is no longer radical enough when it comes to the EU’s refugee or climate policies.
But the Left’s numbers have dwindled in surveys and in elections, so they are hovering precariously close to the 5% threshold required for representation in the parliament. And now as Wagenknecht is on the verge of leaving her party and forming a new one, she may be sounding the death knell for the Left Party altogether. |
