The attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market (and the tense political environment in Germany) underscored how central issues of internal security and extremism will be to Germany’s next government.
How can a government combat illegal immigration while also promoting professional immigration?And how can you protect yourself from cyberattacks, defend the rule of law and democracy against internal and external enemies?Here are some of the main demanding situations that the next German government will face in 2025, regardless of which party is leading the country.
However, according to some members of the Bundestag, all these demanding situations will first have to be put aside to deal with the crisis facing the country’s economy. Large German companies like Volkswagen are in serious difficulty, other people are worried about their jobs and are suffering with emerging costs and rents.
Marco Wanderwitz of the center-right Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was federal commissioner for the eastern states until 2021 and told DW: “The biggest challenge we have in this country right now is that our economy is stagnating. It affects the foundations and the future. The great challenge is that we have a loss of confidence in politics among economic leaders.
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The government is blamed for high energy prices, high wage levels, deteriorating infrastructure, shortages of professionals and excessive bureaucracy.
According to Omid Nouripour, former leader of the Greens, this last point is highlighted by the slow pace of digitalization in the country.
“We have a twofold crisis, both economically and structurally,” he told DW. “You can see this, for example, in government offices, where fax machines are still considered a top means of communication. And you can see that in the investment backlog in this country.”
These disruptions are exacerbated by external cyberattacks, most of which come from Russia, against infrastructure such as the country’s power grids. “The most important thing is critical infrastructure,” Nouripour said. “We have too many vulnerabilities in this area. And too many actors are putting pressure on critical infrastructure. ”
That is why strengthening the police and intelligence is a vital task for next year.
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Two other disorders that have long been known as disorders will pose a much greater challenge than they have so far for a long-term government: immigration and the question of how the country deals with the evident rise of populism and far-right extremism. The attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market highlighted this problem.
The number of asylum programs and the estimated number of abnormal migrants have decreased in recent years, although the European border protection company Frontex estimates that around 166,000 people attempted to enter the EU illegally in the first nine months of 2024.
Germany has reintroduced controls at all its borders and the conservative CDU, which is likely to lead the next government after elections in February, has now come out in favor of returning refugees to the borders.
Many local governments say they have reached the limit when it comes to welcoming and caring about refugees. Stefan Seidler of the Südschleswigscher Wählerverband (SSW), which represents Germany’s Frisian and Danish minority in the northern German country, says he saw it with his own eyes.
“What I can say from my perspective is that the municipalities are currently facing a huge task that they can hardly cope with,” he told DW. “What they need is support from the federal government.”
Wanderwitz, who is not a candidate for the Bundestag, does not share his opinion. He believes immigration is manageable, although he knows how polarizing the factor is. “The numbers have gone down,” he said, and he believes the disorders have been exaggerated. “In fact, I only know local politicians who say that it is much less serious than in 2014 or 2015. But despite this, everyone has raised the white flag in one way or another,” said Array Wanderwitz.
Nouripour believes that the number of refugees heading to Germany could rise again. “We know that the situation in Ukraine can lead to more refugees, and we can see that this confrontation can be further accentuated in the Middle East,” he warned.
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Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win the February elections.
“Lately we are under great pressure from the extreme right,” Seidler warned. It is concerned with safeguarding the rights of minorities. “Lately we are seeing an increase in those who think that it is the majority that decides. But as a political minority, I can only say clearly and unequivocally: an intelligent democracy also pays attention to its minorities. “
This is part of the explanation why Seidler supported a movement presented in the Bundestag through the opposition bloc CDU/CSU, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens who lately form a minority government and its forming coalition component. , the neoliberal. To protect the independence of the Federal Constitutional Court, the Free Democrats (FDP) oppose political interference. The reform raises the bar for converting the Court’s rules, which could be accepted by the required two-thirds majority in the German Parliament, even after a fierce election campaign.
All political leaders agree that 2025 will be another complicated year, marked by violent conflicts and crises to be resolved.
This article originally written in German.
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