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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Elections & Politics

Kallas warns Germany’s far right is “blind” to Russian threat after election victory

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Outcome reported
  • EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she was concerned about the far-right Alternative for Germany’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt.
  • Kallas warned that parties ignoring Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare could weaken Europe’s ability to deter threats.
  • AfD won 43.8% of the vote, more than double the CDU’s 17.2%, giving it a chance to govern a German state for the first time.

Kaja Kallas says Europe risks waking up to a threat it has failed to deter as far-right parties gain ground while dismissing Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare.

The EU’s foreign policy chief spoke in Vilnius alongside Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius after the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won Sunday’s election in Saxony-Anhalt. Kallas pointed to what she described as a growing number of acts of sabotage and threats across Europe, including an explosive drone found at Leipzig airport. The German government believes Russia was behind that incident.

We have seen a growing number of acts of sabotage and threats in Europe. At the same time, parties that are blind to the threats are gaining ground and saying that we do not have to do anything because it is not our matter.

· Kaja KallasThe EU foreign policy chief criticized parties she said were dismissing Russian-related threats.

“We have seen a growing number of acts of sabotage and threats in Europe. At the same time, parties that are blind to the threats are gaining ground and saying that we do not have to do anything because it is not our matter,” Kallas said. She added that she feared Europe could suddenly find itself in a position where it had not done enough to deter threats and defend itself, while stressing that Germans had the right to make their own democratic choices.

I fear that we may suddenly wake up in a situation where we have not done enough to be able to deter the threats and defend ourselves. But of course it is for the Germans, as a democratic country, to make their decisions.

· Kaja KallasKallas warned that insufficient action could leave Europe less prepared to defend itself.

Sinkevicius also expressed concern about AfD’s result. The party supports restoring trade relations with Russia and opposes military support for Ukraine. “We see extreme political forces gaining support in Europe. It is a wake-up call for traditional parties on the right and the left,” he said.

He nevertheless emphasized that the election was free and democratic and that AfD’s result in one German region would not affect cooperation between Lithuania and Germany. AfD won 43.8% of the vote, compared with 17.2% for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union. Merz described the CDU’s 20-point collapse as its worst defeat in decades.

We see extreme political forces gaining support in Europe. It is a wake-up call for traditional parties on the right and the left.

· Mindaugas SinkeviciusThe Lithuanian prime minister reacted to AfD’s election result.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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