Worlds Apart: German Elections – Harold James, Professor of History and International Affairs

Germany is soon going to the polls for an election that most probably won’t change much, but will mean a whole lot. This is because the country, which once was blamed for destroying Europe, is now tasked with saving it. How well are the Germans coping in balancing their guilt for Europe's past with their sense of responsibility for its future? To discuss this, Oksana is joined by Harold James, Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Inside Story: Will Germany's Merkel Win a Record Fourth Term?

She has been called calculating and warm, a pragmatist and an idealist. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a woman of contradictions, but one thing is for sure - she has made a mark on her country and the rest of Europe.

The Chancellor's campaigning for re-election to a fourth term. Voting is on September 24th and for what it is worth, opinion polls say she has a strong lead. But if we have learned anything over the past year, it is that anything can happen in elections. Germany's veteran leader faced her main opponent Martin Schulz in a TV debate last week. He leads the Social Democratic Party which is expected to win second place in parliament.

There has been a close race for third, between the far-right and far-left parties. As Merkel said a month ago, that means there are 'no natural coalitions'.

Will voters forgive Merkel for some of her controversial policies? And how has her long running leadership changed Germany and the EU?

Presenter: Jane Dutton | Guests: Joerg Forbrig - The German Marshall Fund of the United States; Nina Schick - Hanbury Strategy; Bethany Allen Ebrahimian - Foreign Policy magazine

Merkel Booed, Pelted with Tomatoes on Campaign Trail in Eastern Germany

With September's federal election fast approaching, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is travelling around the country to drum up support. In spite of her general popularity, she's received quite the hostile response in some areas.

Merkelism = Thatcherism 2.0? Critics Accuse Merkel of Pushing EU in Wrong Direction

Angela Merkel has won Germany's top job again - but the landslide victory is overshadowed by some tough coalition choices. The conservative bloc - Christian Democrats - took 41.5 per cent of the vote. And that's not enough support for Merkel's party to rule on their own - as their main rivals; the Social Democrats, led by Peer Steinbrueck came in with 25.7 per cent. A coalition between the two will be hard to reach.

German Vote Leaves Merkel Looking for Allies

Conservatives enjoy best results since 1990 but concessions to centre-left rivals could be cost of coalition deal.

Merry Merkel: Conservatives Lead in German Vote with 'Super Result'

Voting has now ended in the German parliamentary election and the first exit polls have been released. Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Party has done better than expected - and some projections suggest it could even end up with an absolute majority. It would be the first time in more than half a century a party has been able to govern without forming a coalition.

Angela Merkel Celebrates after German Election »

Angela Merkel Celebrates after German Election

BBC: Angela Merkel has urged her party to celebrate "a super result" after exit polls suggested she was set to win a third term as German chancellor.

Her Christian Democrats took about 42% of the vote, according to exit polls.

But Mrs Merkel's preferred coalition is at risk, as her Free Democrat partners appear not have secured the 5% needed to enter parliament.

She may, therefore, be forced to seek a grand coalition with the Social Democrats - estimated to have won 26%.

Exit polls for ARD public television put the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on 4.7%, which if confirmed would be a disaster for the junior coalition partner, leaving it with no national representation in parliament.

Senior party member Christian Lindner called it "the bitterest hour". » | Sunday, September 22, 2013

One-third of German Voters Remain Undecided

German politicians are on the final stretch of campaigning ahead of Sunday's elections - and the polls suggest it will be a close race.

Merkel's Ukip Warning to German Voters

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Angela Merkel’s conservatives issued a strong warning to German voters not to support a fast-rising eurosceptic party in Sunday’s election, highlighting the growing popularity of Ukip in Britain as an example not to be followed.

The Chancellor’s Christian Democrats (CDU), which had deliberately ignored the small Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) so far in the campaign, deployed one of their most respected figures to rip into the new party.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the veteran finance minister, said anti-European Union sentiment threatened the region’s progress.

“These people claim: 'We’d be better off economically without the euro’,” he told the weekly Die Zeit. “That claim is totally wrong, has no credibility and is extremely dangerous for our prosperity.”

Referring to Ukip, whose rise has been well noted in Germany, he continued: “In the UK there is a political movement with a high degree of euroscepticism. In France, many fear that at the European elections the National Front will be the strongest party. I am thankful that we in Germany, perhaps because of our history, are a little cautious of demagoguery and right-leaning ideas.”

Mr Schäuble added: “I don’t have any time for these people who seem to be trapped in the past. Anyone who starts, like the AfD, with stoking fears towards Europe, quickly moves towards stoking fears of immigrants.” » | Jeevan Vasagar in Berlin | Wednesday, September 18, 2013

One Woman to Rule Them All

THE ECONOMIST: German voters should re-elect Angela Merkel as their chancellor—and Europe’s leader

EVER since the euro crisis broke in late 2009 this newspaper has criticised the world’s most powerful woman. We disagreed with Angela Merkel’s needlessly austere medicine: the continent’s recession has been unnecessarily long and brutal as a result. We wanted the chancellor to shrug off her cautious incrementalism and the mantle of her country’s history—and to lead Europe more forcefully. She is largely to blame for the failure to create a full banking union for the euro zone, the first of many institutional changes it still needs. She has refused to lead public opinion, never spelling out to her voters how much Germany is to blame for the euro mess (nor how much its banks have been rescued by its bail-outs). We also worry that she has not done enough at home: in recent years no country in the European Union has made fewer structural reforms, and her energy policies have landed Germany with high subsidies for renewables and high electricity prices.

And yet we believe Mrs Merkel is the right person to lead her country and thus Europe. That is partly because of what she is: the world’s most politically gifted democrat and a far safer bet than her leftist opponents. It is also partly because of what we believe she could still become—the great leader Germany and Europe so desperately needs.

Stick with Mutti

Politically, few can match Mrs Merkel. As other leaders have soared and dipped (Barack Obama and David Cameron spring to mind) or not taken off at all (poor François Hollande), she has remained both popular and trusted. And do not underestimate her achievement in holding Europe together. Greece has not fallen out of the euro; northern Europeans have paid for bail-outs; Spain and others have made reforms few thought possible; she helped get rid of clowns like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi. The euro’s survival so far was not inevitable. » | From the print edition | Saturday, September 14, 2013

Hat Mutti doch recht? »

Germany's Free Democrats Face Grim Future

In Germany's upcoming election, it is one of the smallest parties that may play the biggest role.If the polls are to be believed, the Free Democrats could be completely eliminated from the country's parliament.And that could force Chancellor Angela Merkel to form a coalition with the opposition.Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer reports from Berlin.

Outsider Upset: Eurosceptic Party Set to Make Waves in German Elections

Germany will be electing a new parliament this weekend, and it's promising to be a close race. With no party heading for an outright majority, coalition talks are likely, with outsider factions possibly having a decisive influence on what the Bundestag looks like, come next week. RT's Peter Oliver attended a rally of one of the parties that is now, unexpectedly, set to make a crucial difference.