After the collapse of the traffic light coalition, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is accused of political instability in the country, called early parliamentary elections, which were won today, according to preliminary results, by the leader of the German opposition Friedrich Merz.
On this occasion, the guest of Dnevnik 2 on Federal Television was Zorica Ilić, a journalist for Deutsche Welle.
Merz will receive a mandate to form a new government, although the CDU did not manage to get the support it had hoped for, Ilić pointed out, adding that the biggest losers of the parties in the previous ruling coalition are, above all, the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which achieved its worst result in history with 16% of the votes.
This is a very difficult night for the Social Democrats, they admitted that this is a bitter defeat, she said.
“The happiest people this evening were the members of the Alternative for Germany, support for the AfD has doubled compared to the previous elections, almost 20%, and the Left Party is also celebrating, which achieved around 9%,” Ilić said.
She also pointed out that the turnout was high, as many as 84% of eligible voters went to the polls, which is significantly more than, for example, in the previous elections. This shows how worried Germans are about the situation in the country, Ilić notes.
“As for the future coalition, the CDU/CSU has a stable majority with the Alternative for Germany, however, Friedrich Merz has ruled out the possibility of a coalition with this right-wing party. According to current information, there is no majority for a coalition of the CDU/CSU and the Greens, and there is no support from the CSU anyway. It is important whether the FTP and BSV will enter the Bundestag, because it depends on whether there will be a sufficient majority for a coalition of the CDU/CSU and the SPD. So, everything is still open, we have to wait for more concrete results,” she explained.
She emphasized once again that this is a historic success for the AfD – they have doubled their support, and that numerous reasons led to this.
“One of them, perhaps crucial, is the open support of the US administration. Since the early elections were called, there has been talk of a Russian hybrid war and an influence on the elections in favor of the AfD, because the AfD is known here as a pro-Russian party. However, the real influence, very open, was exerted by the administration of US President Donald Trump. So, the success of the AfD certainly has something to do with the fact that this party is the ‘choice’ of both Moscow and Washington. The right-wing populist AfD was also helped by the economic crisis, and especially the series of attacks carried out by migrants. We know that this party advocates for the decisive expulsion of all illegal migrants and the closure of German borders”, Ilić pointed out.
When it comes to German policy towards the Western Balkans, more specifically towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ilić believes that there will be no major changes, at least based on what could be read in the parties’ pre-election programs.
“The CDU/CSU, SPD and the Greens are in favor of the enlargement of the European Union. For the SPD and the Greens, it is a geopolitical necessity, while the CDU/CSU advocates for intermediate stages for candidate countries that have not yet met all the conditions but are still implementing reforms. The CDU is also more in favor of economic than political integration, but everything will depend on the negotiations of the coalition partners. Basically, there should be no significant changes. However, we are witnessing changes taking place in the world that were unimaginable just a few months, maybe even a week ago. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that before dealing with the Western Balkans, Germany will first have to resolve a whole series of issues on the domestic political level, but also when it comes to its position in Europe and the world,” concluded Zorica Ilić, a journalist for Deutsche Welle, in an interview for Federal Television.
