Up until this year, Angela Merkel's status as Chancellor, and indeed, as unofficial EU leader, had faced little domestic challenge since the end of Gerhard Schröder's reign. Now however, Martin Schulz has returned from the European Parliament, and is leading the somnolent SPD to a notable revival. Any enhanced score by the Socialists is likely to come at the expense of both die Linke and the Greens, and while the AfD are still poised to enter the Reichstag, their electoral momentum has stalled for now. The return of the FDP also broadens the potential coalition options for the traditional parties.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
I expect this election to be more between the establishment parties vs AfD than CDU vs SPD. And the big question that has to be floated is: "Do you really want Trumpism in Deutschland?" Now there is something concrete to serve as a deterrent.
I really hope that Trump's election will be bad news for ultra-right wing fucks everywhere.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
Has Schulz been bringing forth any policy or is it just a new leader bump? Will he work with die Linke, who would seem to be pretty crucial to any potential coalition government?
The SPD getting back in the saddle would be a major boost to the European centre-left, it goes without saying really.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
Flynnie wrote: Has Schulz been bringing forth any policy or is it just a new leader bump? Will he work with die Linke, who would seem to be pretty crucial to any potential coalition government?
The SPD getting back in the saddle would be a major boost to the European centre-left, it goes without saying really.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
Schulz is benefitting from not having been in the Grand Coalition (Sigmar Gabreiel realised that his involvement in it made him unelectable) and so is the outsider coming in. He has a certain streetfighter charisma, a big mouth that doesn't censor itself (something that seems to work well with voters these days), and next to the tired Merkel, he brings an energy into the game which his predecessors in the SPD couldn't. He is a populist the left can live with. And he supports 1. FC Köln, so he is obviously a very good man.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
Interestingly, for the first time in months, the AfD has fallen to single digits in an opinion poll - still probably asking too much for them to go below the 5% threshold, but given that the vote isn't for another seven months, it could yet happen.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
G-Man wrote: I expect this election to be more between the establishment parties vs AfD than CDU vs SPD. And the big question that has to be floated is: "Do you really want Trumpism in Deutschland?" Now there is something concrete to serve as a deterrent.
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Ah, Schulz - German general election, 2017
But Trumpism was then still a theory, rather than a WTF thunderstorm. There will always be loons who are attracted to that kind of politics. The CSU feeds of it. But actually seeing Trump in action must turn off the middle ground that regards itself as decent.
Germany's political environment also allows for a greater scope for electoral expression than the duopoly in the US, where some people voted Trump despite themselves.
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It's almost as if running an career technocrat party insider as your candidate for head of government doesn't inspire the electorate.
Who could have seen this coming...Last edited by anton pulisov; 24-09-2017, 16:41.
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