Europe’s antifascist wall begins to crack

The “antifascist wall” that has protected European democracy since the end of the Second World War is beginning to crack. The article presents the Alternative for Germany’s overwhelming victory in Saxony-Anhalt as a breach that has alarmed the Élysée Palace, Downing Street, the Moncloa and other European capitals, including Warsaw.

AfD won 43.8% of the vote in the state, whose population stands at 2.1 million, while the Christian Democrats finished second with 17.2%. The result brings the far-right party close to an outright majority. Its ability to form a government depends on a small radical left-wing party allied with Russia, which has already indicated that it will give AfD a free hand.

The article says Germany’s domestic intelligence service classifies AfD as a “radical far-right organization.” It also accuses the party’s leaders of sympathizing with Nazism, minimizing the Holocaust and treating immigrants as second-class citizens. AfD wants Berlin to restore good relations with Moscow, a policy associated in the article with the cheap Russian gas that once helped German industry compete.

Germany remains Europe’s economic engine, but the article portrays its growth model as exhausted. The country has barely grown in recent years, while its export-led economy faces a changing relationship with China, its main market. Chinese electric cars are now taking market share from Volkswagen in Europe. Budget austerity and wage restraint have also left working people behind, weakened the welfare state and made everyday expenses harder to manage.

The article argues that European governments have failed to reverse a sense of loss and abandonment among middle- and lower-income groups. AfD presents itself as the party of workers and peace, criticizes spending on weapons instead of industrial growth, and calls for tougher action against immigrants. The author warns that these pressures could bring Europe closer to the political dangers associated with 1933 if the radical right advances elsewhere, including in France, Germany and Spain.