Very interesting times ahead for Germany

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616060#Comment_122616060

that will end well lol

SafeSurfer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606581#Comment_122606581

Yes, multicultural states are all around us. Has multiculturalism directly led to peace and prosperity in these countries? Would Sweden be as peaceful and prosperous today without the multiculturalism it has enjoyed in the past decades? I think it would be difficult to argue that multiculturalism has made Sweden both more peaceful and more prosperous.

Likewise you claim European integration and multiculturalism has seen the most significant period of economic growth for any of the countries involved? What do you base this on?

Of the 25 countries which have enjoyed the highest economic growth over the past 50 years only one is in the European Union. Ireland.
Europe’s relative wealth, share of trade etc is diminishing.
The European project is a success you say , yet growing numbers of Europeans are untrusting of the EU and supporting eurosceptic political parties. Why don’t Europeans increase support of the EU as multiculturalism, prosperity and peace increases?

Headshot

Another election happening on Sunday in Brandenburg

https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/21/brandenburg-braces-for-regional-vote-that-could-determine-fate-of-national-government

AfD is on track to come in first place with SPD expected to come in second

Could spell the end of Scholz

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616271#Comment_122616271

"directly led" is doing some heavy lifting there

lumphammer2

Why are terrorist groups like AfD, MAGA Republicans. etc. even allowed to be political parties ??? …. how come these pass the threshold … but ISIS, Al Qaeda and Jundullah would not be allowed to run as a political party in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, etc …..

OneEightSeven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122638845#Comment_122638845

Mega Republicans aren't a political party and there's no mechanism to expel people from US parties.

What's stopping ISIS, Al Qaeda and Jundallah from contesting elections in those countries?

thomil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122638845#Comment_122638845

I can only speak for Germany here. For rather obvious historical reasons, the bar to banning a political party is extremely high in Germany. Political parties enjoy special protection under the Grundgesetz, the German constitution, and only the highest bodies in the country, namely the federal government and the German parliament can table a request to start the process of banning a party. For a party to be deemed illegal, either it, or its members must be found to be actively working in a concerted effort to endanger or eliminate the tenets of the rule of law and democracy, or must form a direct threat to the continued existence of the state.

The actual determination is done by the Bundesverfassungsgericht, Germany's Supreme Court, and the presiding judges must make their ruling with at least a two-thirds majority for a party to be banned. The same thing can happen on a state level if a party suspected of fulfilling the criteria above is only active in one of Germany's 16 states.

In Germany's post-war history, this has only occurred twice. The first was in 1952, when the Sozialistische Reichspartei, SRP for short, was banned. This party was essentially a recreation of the NSDAP, which itself had already been banned by the Allied Control Council in October 1945. The second, and so far last successful banning of a political party was in 1956, when the KPD, the west German communist party, was banned. An attempt to ban the far right NPD in the early 2000s failed on constitutional grounds, when it became public that key members of that party's leadership were undercover agents of the Verfassungsschutz, Germany's domestic intelligence agency.

With regards to the AfD, the Verfassungsschutz is actively monitoring the party, as are its state-level counterparts in several German states, including Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. This has been going on for several years, but so far, the government has decided not to move ahead with a request to outlaw the AfD. From my perspective, it looks like the authorities want to avoid a repeat of the early 2000s experience with the NPD and make sure they have an absolutely watertight case before they bring this to the Supreme Court. I tend to agree, especially given the size of the AfD. There's only one chance to get this right, as a failure would only increase the party's popularity.

thatsdaft

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616140#Comment_122616140

Schulz is in Stans now looking for migrant labour agreements

It’s like these guys want to deliberately pour oil on the fire

rogber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122641713#Comment_122641713

They need cheap foreign labour to do care work and other jobs Germans and Europeans don't want to do, just like here in Ireland. If these important professions were paid better and had better working conditions it would help attract local people and migration could focus on more highly skilled workers instead

gossamerfabric

Breaking News: Looks like an election will happen now. Scholz of SPD has just fired Christian Lindner(FDP) as Finance Minister so FDP will probably withdraw support.

Greens and SPD have been treating FDP like spoil sports objecting to irrational exuberance at every turn.

Press conference in about 5 minutes from now.

Problem with CDU/CSU is that the next possible Kanzler is a non-entity

gossamerfabric

Olaf putting the boot in to the FDP now. The SPD and FDP will not find their way in to a coalition after that speech.

The blame is with SPD and Greens who both had a hare-brained stimulation plan which was just a cover for pursuing their own particular passions.

gossamerfabric

Things clearer now: Scholz demanded that Lindner as Finance Minister ignore the Schuldenbremse which is grounded in the Constitution to allow excessive borrowing above .35% of GDP .

This is the Schuldenbremse and I am a big fan of it. Ireland could do with something like it rather than mortgaging the future of Irelands children and grandchildren

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_balanced_budget_amendment

Headshot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122810113#Comment_122810113

Could they form a minority government?

gossamerfabric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122810517#Comment_122810517

Nope. President wouldn't tolerate it and don't forget that Hindenburg enabled Hitler in that manner in the Weimar Republic.

It seems that elections will happen in March unless there is some sort of Fianna Gael type agreement between SPD and CDU/CSU which neither party would tolerate.

Roald Dahl

There are reports in the German media that Finance Minister Lindner was fired after a disagreement where Scholz refused the request to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles.