Free Democratic Party - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Citizens not satisfied with EU’s current state, say MEPs

Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 18:15:37 +0000

“The 17,300 participants on the conference’s online platform so far are still expandable,” said German Social Democratic MEP Katarina Barley (SPD), who also warned against not taking the suggestions of citizens sufficiently seriously and using them as political pawns.

With the first plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe on Saturday (19 June) designed to have EU citizen participation at its core, some MEPs believe the event could be a catalyst to change the bloc’s treaties, while others hope citizens are not used as political pawns. EURACTIV Germany reports.

“This conference is already ahead of the previous ones in that we are not just working in our own ‘juices’,” German MEP Nicola Beer of the liberal Free Democratic Party told EURACTIV, noting that while Europe’s citizens view themselves as Europeans, they “are not fans of the current state of the EU, so we have to do better.”

A conference plenary on 19 June will include 108 citizens of Europe, of whom at least 27 must be younger than 25, as well as national and EU lawmakers.

The so-called “citizen panels” will also bring together randomly selected EU citizens to exchange their views and positions which will form the basis for the debate in the plenary.

“The 17,300 participants on the conference’s online platform so far are still expandable,” said German Social Democratic MEP Katarina Barley, who also warned against not taking the suggestions of citizens sufficiently seriously and using them as political pawns.

“We have to be insanely careful not to fall into such a trap,” Barley added. The German MEP also pointed out that EU lawmakers already agree on many organizational matters, which could lead to a situation where the will of the people could be ignored.

Barley gave the example of the Spitzenkandidat principle, according to which the top candidate of the party with the most votes in the EU parliamentary elections is set to become the Commission President – which may make sense to MEPs but not be important to citizens.

Had the Spitzenkandidat principle been upheld following the last European Parliament elections in 2019, EPP chief Manfred Weber would now be at the helm of the EU Commission.

Commission: EU future debate should focus on ‘genuine people’ not ‘Brussels bubble’

Margaritis Schinas, European Commission Vice-President for the Promotion of the European Way of Life, has underlined that the Future of Europe conference should focus on the “genuine people” and not the “Brussels bubble”.

‘Insights for a new Convention’

“The conference is not a new Convention, but it should provide the insights that will prepare a new Convention,” said Christian Democrat MEP Sven Simon about the Conference on the Future of Europe, which was launched on 9 May and is intended to bring Europe closer to its citizens and set the way forward for European integration in the coming years.

In Brussels, it is mainly the European Parliament – and particularly the liberal Renew Europe group – that has driven the agenda of the Conference as it hopes to gain additional powers in the event of treaty change.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen would not have been nominated president without the promise of a Conference on the Future of Europe, and thus the votes of the Liberals, said Beer.

Results of the conference are expected in a year at the earliest, but French President Emmanuel Macron is keen to have wants recommendations by March next year, ahead of his own reelection bid.

France will taking over the rotating EU Council presidency next January.

EU’s Comittee of Regions calls for local participation in Future of Europe summit

The Conference on the Future of Europe launched Sunday (9 May) in Strasbourg can only succeed if local and regional communities are involved, the European Committee of the Regions has argued. EURACTIV France reports.

The regions

The plenary on 19 June will also welcome 108 national parliament representatives and 18 representatives from the European Committee of the Regions (CoR).

According to Ilse Aigner, president of the Bavarian state parliament, “the regions must be given sufficient room for manoeuvre in a future Europe.”

“The regions and their parliaments have a central role in the EU’s multi-level system as legislators and as mediators of European policy,” Aigner added.

Federalists: Conference on the Future of Europe could kickstart EU reform

Like the Schuman Declaration in 1950, the Conference on the Future of Europe could pave the way for a reform of the EU, the Spinelli Group – which gathers federalist MEPs and national parliamentarians – with the Union of European …

EURACTIV’s editorial content is independent from the views of our sponsors.

Source: https://www.euractiv.com/section/future-eu/news/citizens-not-satisfied-with-eus-current-state-say-meps/

[Disclaimer]

The post Citizens not satisfied with EU’s current state, say MEPs first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Friedrich Merz Is Ready to Bury Angela Merkel

Peter Kuras — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:24:37 +0000

The German chancellor’s most likely successor wants to end her way of doing politics.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Oct. 15, 2019, in Berlin), left, and German corporate lawyer and former parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz (Oct. 31, 2018, in Berlin). AXEL SCHMIDT,JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

When Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was first elected to the leadership of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, it seemed that Chancellor Angela Merkel had secured her legacy. Instead, she had colluded to reveal her own inadequacy. Kramp-Karrenbauer will now preemptively pass the chancellor’s coveted baton to someone eager to use it as a weapon against Merkel herself and the entire era of German politics she has presided over.

Kramp-Karrenbauer was the chancellor’s hand-picked successor. In comparison to the young and relatively untested Jens Spahn, who also vied for the party leadership in December 2018, she seemed measured and well-reasoned. In comparison to the strident political veteran Friedrich Merz, another challenger, she seemed like a safe bet to keep the party from a sharp rightward shift. Kramp-Karrenbauer was relatively sober and restrained. She differed from Merkel on a handful of important political positions—most notably, she’s been emphatic in her opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage—but she largely fell in line with the chancellor on economic issues. Most notably, despite some indications that Kramp-Karrenbauer might personally have tended toward a more conservative position on immigration, she adopted Merkel’s stance on Germany’s most divisive issue, promising generous immigration policies and a hard demarcation between the centrists in the CDU and the extremists in the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Kramp-Karrenbauer always inhabited an untenable position—though Merkel’s personal popularity quickly rebounded after 2015’s refugee crisis, her party suffered; those to the right of center complained that her immigration policies were unreasonably generous and would drive Germany into both financial ruin and cultural disarray. Merkel’s progressive stance on immigration, meanwhile, was far from enough to entice left-of-center voters, whose furor over lackluster action on global warming, rising housing prices, and continued privatization rivals that of the right-wingers—though it’s rarely expressed with the same implicit violence.

Merkel’s ability to manage these tensions over the past few years depends on her political adroitness, yes, but also on her personal authority and the aura that attaches to her as the last member of the ancien régime. Even with those assets, Merkel’s party was on the decline when Kramp-Karrenbauer assumed its leadership. Merkel resigned her position as the head of the CDU after the party lost double digits in its share of the vote in regional elections in Bavaria and Hesse, leading to widespread discontent within the party.

Kramp-Karrenbauer’s career was also riddled with unforced errors, though. One sometimes had the feeling that she had announced a culture war and nobody else came. When a German YouTube star attacked the CDU shortly before the European elections last May, she responded hyperbolically, claiming that his work was akin to propaganda; she compared same-sex marriage to incest, and she made juvenile jokes about intersex people. In the end, she seemed like a jester. Her reactionary sexual politics fell on deaf ears among German conservatives, even as they provoked outrage and fear among broad swaths of the public.

Kramp-Karrenbauer proved not only to be inept as a spokesperson for the party, however; she also revealed herself to be a poor manager of the CDU’s internecine squabbles. After disappointing results in the European elections last spring, Kramp-Karrenbauer lashed out at both leftists, who she alleged were eroding popular support for the Volksparteien that had held extremists at bay since World War II, and simultaneously the right-wing of her own party, who she accused of undermining the campaign’s messaging and unity. For Merkel, however, the last straw came when Kramp-Karrenbauer failed to maintain party discipline in the aftermath of regional elections in Thuringia. Because of a deeply divided electorate and the strength of the AfD, the state was unable to form a governing coalition after elections this past October. When the parliament met recently to appoint a leader for the state’s government, however, members of the CDU joined with members of the AfD to elect Thomas Kemmerich of the economically liberal Free Democratic Party to the position of minister-president, shattering a taboo that had barred extremist parties from participation in governing coalitions since World War II.

For all of Kramp-Karrenbauer’s failings, there was something comforting about her leadership of the CDU—though nicknames like “Merkel 2.0” and “Mini-Merkel” rubbed her the wrong way, it is easy to see why they were so popular for a while. If Kramp-Karrenbauer lacked Merkel’s stern competence, she had something of the chancellor’s earnestness and solidity. More importantly, however, she promised to continue a familiar legacy of governance. Whether a more talented politician might have been able to carry that legacy into one or more terms as chancellor is an open question. Even in the best of cases, however, it’s impossible to imagine that such governance would have been able to fully contain nativist resentment, ecological anxieties, and economic frustration. Like President Emmanuel Macron in France, Chancellor Kramp-Karrenbauer would likely have struggled to continue a legacy that seems increasingly inadequate in today’s world.

Since Kramp-Karrenbauer did blunder her way out of office, however, the future of the CDU—and of Germany more generally—has very much come up for debate. The three most popular contenders for the party’s leadership represent very different futures for the CDU.

Jens Spahn, the 39-year-old minister of health, bears a resemblance to the American presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg that extends beyond his age and sexual orientation. Like Buttigieg, Spahn promises a revitalization of the current consensus, with a nuanced position on immigration, progressive stances on LGTBQ+ rights, and a focus on efficiency and tax cuts. Spahn, however, despite arguably being a more accomplished politician than Buttigieg, lacks some of the latter’s wunderkind qualities, and his candidacy has failed to generate much excitement.

Moderate party insiders have focused hopes primarily on Armin Laschet, the head of the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous state. Laschet has a knack for party politics, a reputation for pragmatic governance, and an ability to build broad coalitions. On immigration, he may be to the left even of Merkel—he made a widely publicized visit to a Jordanian refugee camp during the refugee crisis and has consistently argued for a humanitarian approach to refugees. He’s also positioned himself against austerity in Greece, arguing that drastic measures against Greece could only lead to a weakened European Union and increased opportunities for Russian influence to penetrate the continent. A CDU led by Laschet would almost certainly seek support in building a coalition government from the left, especially from the recently ascendant Greens.

If Spahn would stay the course and Laschet would veer a bit to the left, Friedrich Merz would tack hard to the right, pushing the CDU toward the AfD in an attempt to recapture voters that have fled to the populist right in past elections. Merz, an old rival of Merkel’s, left politics in 2009 after getting marginalized by the chancellor. In the interim, he led investment firm BlackRock’s German operations. Since announcing his return to politics in the race that led to Kramp-Karrenbauer’s appointment to the leadership of their party, Merz has been advocating radically restricted immigration policies, and he is regularly in the headlines for his critical stance toward Merkel’s leadership. In moments, he plays the populist to a T—pandering to nativist sentiments and promising large-scale tax rebates for average Germans. It’s also apparent, however, that the role isn’t native to him—he flubbed in the election against Kramp-Karrenbauer when he claimed that he considered himself to be a member of the upper-middle class, causing a late-night host to joke, “People who have more than one airplane probably aren’t middle class anymore.”

It’s also unclear how Merz would form a governing coalition. The center-left Social Democrats, already embattled for their coalitions with Merkel’s government, would almost certainly refuse to enter into a coalition with Merz. Indeed, Merz himself has renounced the possibility of a traditional grand coalition. It’s hard to imagine that the Greens could collaborate with him without bleeding votes to other left-wing parties. In the long run, then, he might have to make a modified argument about containing right-wing extremism—one that took the AfD’s votes to form a coalition even while promising to contain its most radical elements. In this case, it’s unclear who would be using whom. German anxiety about extremism has largely been effective in insulating the AfD thus far. Furthermore, the right-wing party lacks effective leadership. Though Björn Höcke, the leader of the party’s far-right splinter group, is often presented as a charismatic strongman, he remains divisive even within the AfD and is almost entirely despised outside of it.

Instead, it is ostensibly centrist leaders like Merz who present the greatest threat. That Germans would consider voting for a far-right leader should hardly surprise close observers of the country’s politics—an undercurrent of right-wing radicalism has always infected German politics, including in the CDU. Indeed, there are many figures in the party who may be to the right of Merz: Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, for example, or Hans-Georg Maaßen, the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s internal security agency. Furthermore, a number of long-term sociological investigations have found widespread support for right-wing radicalism within the German populace. That a centrist party like the CDU might be led by a politician making nativist claims and praising his own business acumen can hardly be seen as unprecedented, either within Germany or in the midst of a global shift to the right.

Merz bears another, more surprising similarity to other populist leaders, however: his entanglement in allegations of corruption. In the midst of his campaign against Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2018, the offices of BlackRock in Germany, which hired Merz in 2016, were raided for suspected complicity in a series of dividend-stripping schemes that defrauded European taxpayers of at least 55 billion euros, about $60 billion. Given the high value that Germans have traditionally placed on both honesty and fiscal responsibility, this might have seemed disqualifying for someone aspiring to become chancellor.

Yet the story barely registered. Merz’s stray remark about being middle class almost certainly hurt him more than the reasonable suspicion that he played an integral role in stealing billions of euros from German taxpayers. One feels certain that earlier generations of Germans would rather have demanded his head than elevated him to the head of state, but that may be no guide to the future. After all, who would have imagined that the leadership of the U.S. party with the most ardent Cold Warriors would eventually rush to forgive Russian interference in American elections?

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/11/friedrich-merz-angela-merkel-akk-germany-chancellor/

[Disclaimer]

The post Friedrich Merz Is Ready to Bury Angela Merkel first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Merkel devastated as Germany threatened by bankruptcy wave – 5 million at risk

Rebecca Perring — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 08:41:32 +0000

ANGELA MERKEL has been dealt a blow after an economic expert warned five million Germans are at risk of unemployment amid a bankruptcy wave due to the coronavirus crisis.

The EU’s largest economy is preparing for an economic downturn as German consultant Professor Roland Berger said millions would be left out of work. While a survey of 7,000 German companies by Munich Ifo Institute found a fifth (21 percent) sees their own existence threatened due to the coronavirus crisis.

Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner said the coronavirus crisis had acted like a “fire accelerator” to Germany’s economic woes, saying: ”We are in a very critical situation”.

Meanwhile, the survey found travel agencies and tour operators in Germany are worried about their future with 85 percent saying their existence is at risk.

While 76 percent of hoteliers fear for their company.

Angela Merkel has been delivered a blow (Image: GETTY )

Germany’s economy has been crippled by the coronavirus crisis (Image: GETTY )

However, it is good news for the chemical industry, with only six percent of companies concerned about their future and just two percent in the construction industry.

Economic experts warned of an “insolvency wave” in the next coming months.

Roland Berger warned of the long-lasting damage to the German economy, telling BILD: “There is a risk that we will have between four and five million unemployed.

Angela Merkel’s nation faces a wave of bankruptcies (Image: GETTY )

“If a pub with three waiters goes bankrupt, there will be three unemployed who will be in the statistics for a long time.

“Because these are not jobs that will be rebuilt the day after tomorrow.”

Angela Merkel’s nation has already seen the coronavirus pandemic cost thousands of jobs.

German companies say they are worried about their future (Image: GETTY )

Germany returns to some normality in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown (Image: GETTY )

According to the Employment Agency (BA), the number of unemployed stood at 2.8 million in June – around 637,000 more than a year earlier.

Ifo boss Clemens Fuest warned, “the number of unemployed will rise to around three million in the third quarter”.

It comes after the EU Commission warned Germany would be hit by a downturn of -6.3 percent from -6.5 percent forecast in May and next year’s rebound.

The report also warned the eurozone economy would drop deeper into recession this year and rebound less steeply in 2021 than previously thought, with France, Italy, and Spain struggling the most due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU executive said the 19-nation single currency area would contract by a record 8.7 percent this year before growing by 6.1 percent in 2021.

In early May, the Commission had forecast a 2020 downturn of 7.7 percent and a 2021 rebound of 6.3 percent.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Ms Merkel will meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ahead of a July 17-18 summit to discuss a planned European Union recovery fund.

Spanish government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said: “Spain’s future is at stake in the coming days,” regarding the negotiations over the fund, from which Spain hopes to receive around €140 billion.

Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1306239/angela-merkel-news-germany-economy-germany-coronavirus-news-merkel

[Disclaimer]

The post Merkel devastated as Germany threatened by bankruptcy wave – 5 million at risk first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Merkel on brink: Support for Germany coalition PLUMMETS to ALL-TIME LOW

Ciaran McGrath — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 21:03:05 +0000

SUPPORT for Angela Merkel’s German coalition has plummeted to its lowest ever level, a new poll has suggested, with the beleaguered Chancellor beset by problems on all sides as she desperately tries to hold her Government together.

Angela Merkel’s coalition is more unpopular than it has ever been, the poll suggests (Image: GETTY)

The ARD DeutschlandTrend survey put support for Mrs Merkel’s conservative alliance – between her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – at 28 percent, down one point from September 6, its lowest ever figure.

Mrs Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005, only narrowly averted the collapse of her coalition government in June after a row between the CDU and the CSU over immigration policy.

The conservative sister parties and their Social Democrat Party (SPD) junior coalition partners this week agreed to oust the head of the BfV domestic agency over accusations that he harboured sympathies to the far-right – but only by effectively giving him a promotion.

The decision to give Hans-Georg Maassen a deputy minister position at the interior ministry was derided as a bad compromise which allowed the ruling parties to paper over deep differences which could make their coalition unworkable.

Mr Maassen had come under fire after questioning the veracity of a video appearing to show foreigners being attacked on the streets of Chemnitz by neo-Nazi extremists – in direct contradiction to Mrs Merkel.

He was defended by interior minister – and CSU leader – Horst Seehofer, who is now his direct boss.

However, the CSU has since hinted the decision to give him a new job could now be reversed in response to the criticism.

The telephone poll of 1,035 people, which was conducted between September 17 and 19, also indicated far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) could expect to be the second-largest party in the German Parliament, were an election held tomorrow.

CSU leader Horst Seehofer is also widely unpopular, according to the survey (Image: GETTY)

The AfD stand on 18 percent, with the SPD on 17 percent, and the Greens on 15 percent.

Overall, the so-called grand coalition would receive 45 percent, meaning a similar alliance next time round would not be possible.

The survey also suggests Mr Seehofer’s popularity has also taken a hit, possibly as a result of recent clashes over immigration, with just 28 percent approving of the job he was doing, compared with 59 percent disapproving.

Speaking about the decision to move Mr Maassen into Mr Seehofer’s department, Christian Lindner, leader of the Free Democratic Party, which took nine percent in the poll, described the situation as a “farce”.

The post Merkel on brink: Support for Germany coalition PLUMMETS to ALL-TIME LOW first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Merkel gives ground on German migration cap

Arne Delfs - AP — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 03:25:45 +0000

BERLIN ––German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to a demand by her Bavarian allies to seek an annual limit on migration, clearing an obstacle for talks on forming her next government and responding to an electoral surge by the nationalist Alternative for Germany party.

Two weeks after an election in which support for her Christian Democratic Union-led bloc was the lowest since 1949, the attempt to cap migration marks a concession by Merkel, who has resisted persistent demands by her CSU sister party for a limit. She now should be able to turn to talks with the Free Democratic Party and Greens on building a coalition contract for her fourth term.

CDU and CSU leaders agree that net migration to Germany, including asylum seekers, shouldn’t exceed 200,000 annually, according to a document seen by Bloomberg outlining the deal reached Sunday. At the same time, they pledge to uphold the right to political asylum under the German constitution and international agreements.

The deal also calls for more effort to send rejected asylum seekers home, though it contains an escape clause to raise the ceiling in case of unexpected “international or national developments.” Merkel and Bavarian prime minister Horst Seehofer, who heads the CSU, are expected to present the accord at a news conference in Berlin Monday.

Merkel’s shift on refugees is the first policy fallout from Germany’s election. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 12.6 percent of the vote on Sept. 24, becoming the first far-right party to enter the Bundestag, or lower house, since right after World War II.

That followed two years of campaigning by the party against Merkel’s open-borders stance during Europe’s refugee crisis, in which more than 1 million refugees traveled to Germany in 2015 and 2016.

Support for Merkel’s bloc declined by almost 9 percentage points in the election to 32.9 percent. That leaves Germany’s biggest political grouping dependent on allying with two smaller parties after the Social Democrats fell to 20.5 percent and said they’re ending their coalition with Merkel. No date has been set for starting coalition talks.

Merkel, Europe’s longest-serving leader, took one of the biggest risks of her career in 2015 when she declined to close German borders to a record influx of asylum seekers, including hundreds of thousands fleeing Syria’s war.

The crisis came to define Merkel’s third term and hovered over last month’s election.

Merkel stood her ground during the campaign as anti-immigration protesters disrupted many of her rallies, saying she couldn’t think of anything she would have done differently during the refugee crisis.

Her stance clashed with that of European Union leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who responded to the crisis by erecting a razor-wire fence and has become a leading voice against Muslims entering Europe.

Donald Trump, during his U.S. presidential campaign last year, called Merkel’s refugee policy “insane” — and predicted she wouldn’t be re-elected.

–––

(Patrick Donahue contributed to this report.)

Source: http://gazette.com/merkel-gives-ground-on-german-migration-cap/article/feed/500146

[Disclaimer]

The post Merkel gives ground on German migration cap first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

What does today’s German Election mean for Israel?

Benjamin Weinthal — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 16:11:29 +0000

–Netanyahu sets policy: We won’t meet diplomats who meet with Breaking the Silence
–Jewish groups: Fire German official who called pro-Israelis ‘traitors’

An objective observer can fathom why German elections matter for Israel.

German and Israeli national flags . (photo credit:REUTERS)

The German federal election on Sunday has tremendous significance for Israel, largely because the Federal Republic is one of Israel’s most important allies within the European Union.

A German government that shows solidarity with Israel can continue to supply it with advanced submarines and intelligence data, help blunt anti-Israel measures at the UN, and stymie misguided – and at times antisemitic – EU sanctions against the Jewish state. Add mushrooming trade and tourist relations, and an objective observer can fathom why German elections matter for Israel.

While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union is slated to secure the most votes (34%, according to the most recent poll), the anti-immigrant and far-right Alternative for Germany is projected to win an eye-popping 13% of the vote. German election law requires a party to cross a 5% hurdle to enter the Bundestag.

The AfD has triggered anxiety among Germany’s relatively small Jewish community because of its alleged xenophobia and antisemitism, as well as its recent glorification of Germany’s soldiers during the Holocaust.

The AfD’s top candidate, Alexander Gauland, said earlier this month: “If the French are rightly proud of their emperor and the Britons of Nelson and Churchill, we have the right to be proud of the achievements of the German soldiers in two world wars.”

Alexander Gauland. (photo credit:METROPOLICO.ORG/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

The AfD’s 76-page party program make no mention of fighting antisemitism or of support for Israel. All of this helps to explain why the AfD likely endangers Israel’s security.

Merkel’s CDU party program pledges a “special responsibility of Germany toward Israel.”

The CDU passed an anti-BDS resolution last year, declaring: “Who today under the flag of the BDS movement calls to boycott Israeli goods and services speaks the same language in which people were called to not buy from Jews [under the Third Reich].”

And many Israelis will recall Merkel’s 2008 address to the Knesset, when she said Israel’s security is “nonnegotiable” for Germany.

Nevertheless, neither Merkel, nor any party in the Bundestag, rejected the EU’s sanctioning in 2015 of Israeli products from the disputed territories. The EU measure labeling Israeli goods was widely considered a form of EU-sanctioned BDS. It is unclear if the Merkel administration will seek to stop the proposed UN Human Rights Committee measure to blacklist companies operating in the disputed territories.

Merkel has showed unconditional support for her controversial Social Democratic foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel, who has fostered anti-Israel sentiments in his interactions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) platform mirrors the CDU recognition of a “special responsibility of Germany for the security of Israel,” but links it explicitly with the peace process with the Palestinians. The new Insa poll commissioned by the Bildnewspaper showed the SPD garnering 21% of the votes on Sunday.

Martin Schulz, the Social Democratic challenger to Merkel, is not an unknown quantity for Israelis. He praised a speech by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to the European Parliament in 2016 which, according to The New York Times, recalled “antisemitic claims that led to the mass killings of European Jews in medieval times.”

Then-European Parliament president Schulz used bogus water statistics, during his 2014 address to the Knesset, to trash Israel’s water policy toward the Palestinians.

Then-Diaspora affairs minister Naftali Bennett told The Jerusalem Post at the time, “When he [Schulz] said Palestinians get 17 liters of water for every 70 Israelis get, it was a total lie. It’s preposterous.” Bennett’s Bayit Yehudi party walked out to protest the speech.

Schulz did, however, condemn Palestinian antisemitism during an election debate with Merkel earlier this month. While commenting about Muslim immigration, he referred to “young Palestinian men that come to us, who were brought up with deeply rooted antisemitism.” He added, “To them we must clearly say: ‘In this country you only have a place when you accept that Germany is a country that defends Israel.’”

As then-SPD general secretary, Andrea Nahles, who is currently labor minister in Merkel’s coalition administration, declared that in 2012 that her party “shared values” and “goals” with Fatah. She also said the SPD seeks a “strategic dialogue” with Fatah. Gabriel praised Nahles for the party’s embrace of the Palestinian movement.

The SPD considers the 2015 Iran nuclear deal “an import success.” Gabriel has snubbed Israel’s concerns about Iranian hegemony and traveled numerous times to Iran to cut business deals with the mullah regime. All the German parties are enthusiastic supporters of the nuclear deal. The atomic pact has opened the doors for multi-billion dollar trade deals between Tehran and Berlin.

The Green Party MP Volker Beck, chairman of the German-Israel Parliamentary Group, was not included on the party’s candidates list for reelection. Beck is arguably Israel’s most important ally and defender of core Israeli security interests in the Bundestag. According to the Bild poll, the Green Party will garner 8% of the vote. The party has sent mixed-messages about BDS.

According to an article in the German-language Israelnetz website, the Greens reject a “boycott of Israel as an instrument of German and European foreign policy.” Yet the Greens spearheaded in 2013 a legislative initiative to single out Israeli products from the disputed territories with labels.

A leading Green Party deputy, Jürgen Trittin – mirroring the AfD’s belittling of the Holocaust – compared refugees camps in Libya today with concentration camps during the Holocaust. Trittin has equated Netanyahu with autocratic leaders.

The Left Party pushes a hard-core anti-Israel agenda in the Bundestag. The party of former East German socialists, West German communists and trade unionists is polling at 11% of the electorate. The Left Party – the largest opposition party – has members who support the US- and EU-classified terrorist entities Hamas and Hezbollah.

Left Party deputy Christine Buchholz has defended the “legitimate resistance” of Hamas and Hezbollah against the Jewish state.

Annette Groth, a Left Party deputy who the Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized for antisemitic BDS activities, will not serve in the next parliament.

The Free Democratic Party is polling at 9%, according to the Bild poll. The party’s 158-page program mentions Israel twice. The FDP says “Israel’s right to exist” is part of Germany’s national interests. The second mention calls for Israel sharing a fixed border with an independent Palestinian state.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/What-does-todays-German-election-mean-for-Israel-505767

[Disclaimer]

The post What does today’s German Election mean for Israel? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.