The threat of a renewed wave of mass death in Germany will increase over the coming weeks as millions of students return to school after the summer holidays.
German Green Party renews state coalition with Christian Democrats in Baden-Württemberg
Last Thursday, the state executive of the Green Party in Baden-Württemberg decided to continue its coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Winfried Kretschmann has been the Green Party premier in the southwestern state for 10 years. On March 14, the Greens emerged as the strongest party in the state elections, while the CDU lost almost 300,000 votes and suffered its historically worst result in its former stronghold state.
Winfried Kretschmann [Credit: Boris Pasek/CC BY-SA 4.0]
The CDU’s election defeat was the result of the right-wing policies of the so-called “Green-Black” coalition in Stuttgart. These included social cuts, increased state police powers and a “herd immunity” approach to the pandemic.
German state elections show growing dissatisfaction with the ruling elite’s “profits before lives” pandemic response
The elections in the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate last Sunday revealed the growing dissatisfaction with the ruling elite’s “profits before lives” pandemic response, and the social spending cuts imposed by the federal Christian Democrat (CDU)/Social Democratic Party (SPD) grand coalition and state governments. The CDU, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, achieved its worst results in postwar history in both elections. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been built up by the ruling class in order to impose its right-wing agenda, lost close to half of its support.
A collapse in support for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats in two regional elections on Sunday signaled that a widening corruption scandal and missteps during the pandemic may threaten the party’s hold on power in a national election this September.