A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI, #212 - Germany's irreversible crisis (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Saxony-Anhalt ---- September 6th marked the return of the Nazis to the 
German state of Saxony-Anhalt, whose capital is Magdeburg and population 
approximately 2,200,000. A significant emigration of Syrians and 
especially Ukrainians, hated by the local population, not because they 
are predominantly white, blond, and blue-eyed, but because they enjoy 
benefits and compete with Germans in the labor market . The percentage 
of migrants, although not exceeding 9% overall as in other East German 
states, was one of the main reasons for the vote because it impacts a 
population largely composed of elderly people (39,000 Ukrainians, 31,000 
of whom have official refugee status, which entitles them to benefits 
and bureaucratic and regulatory benefits). The presence of migrants has 
impacted the real estate market, driving up house prices, and the 
stability of welfare, especially regarding healthcare, and has 
contributed to keeping wages low. The contradiction lies in the fact 
that many Ukrainians work not only in the countryside but also in 
healthcare and elderly care facilities, thus unwittingly contributing to 
the growing intolerance toward foreigners, who are needed but blamed for 
being cared for, with preferential treatment from public institutions. 
We are witnessing the same dynamics developing in Italy among the 
elderly and caregivers. It should be added that Saxony-Anhalt is a poor 
state compared to other states, and its main activities are agriculture 
and the chemical industry, which, after having transformed the land into 
an open-air landfill, causing entire areas to become deserted, is now 
abandoning it due to the rising cost of energy, relocating abroad. The 
sense of abandonment pervades both the countryside, subjected to the 
"blackmail" of migrant labor, and even more so the blue-collar and 
middle-class populations, who see the cost of energy as the cause of 
their distress and the unemployment crisis. This combination of factors 
has fueled a motivated and radical opposition to supporting the war in 
Ukraine, a position that collectively explains the voter turnout of over 
77.8% and the electoral success not only of the AfD, but also of Sahra 
Wagenknecht's "red-browns" (SBW), who surpassed the 5% threshold and 
oppose both support for the war in Ukraine and rearmament. The CDU, 
which has governed the state since 2002, has halved its vote share. AfD 
now has 37%, but to govern alone it would need 42%.

The electoral weight of the migration problem

The migration issue, a central plank of the AfD's electoral platform, 
has significantly impacted the party's electoral success. Employment 
data shows that over the past ten years, the number of native-born 
German workers has fallen by more than 5% (40,000 fewer), and the 
contribution of approximately 52,000 foreign workers has so far 
prevented the collapse of the production system. However, the German 
economic crisis has led to 50,000 layoffs within the Volkswagen Group 
alone, and the unemployment rate in the state stood at 8.2% in August 
2026: significantly higher than the German national average (6.5%). As a 
result, despite the aging population (since reunification in 1990, the 
region has lost nearly a quarter of its inhabitants) and the fact that 
only one of those retiring enters the labor market due to generational 
change, many fears are emerging regarding the increased competition from 
migrants in the labor market.
While Syrian emigration is of little concern from this perspective but 
raises alarm due to its Islamic component, Ukrainian emigration is an 
ongoing and growing phenomenon. After a period of stagnation in the 
first half of 2025, admissions to Saxon first reception centers began to 
rise again starting in the second half of last year and in the first 
months of 2026. This increase is also linked to the easing of some 
travel restrictions introduced by Ukraine, which led to an increase in 
the arrivals of men of military age and families, as well as an increase 
in naturalizations.
For this reason, the management of reception and financial subsidies 
granted to Ukrainian citizens were at the center of the election 
campaign and constitute a particularly acute issue in eastern Germany, 
as they put pressure on services, severe strain on the local school 
system, and the real estate market (housing shortages). The debate on 
subsidies is particularly lively, as evidenced by the fact that local 
interior ministers (including Saxony) have repeatedly called for a 
downward revision of economic aid for new arrivals from Ukraine, pushing 
for a faster transition from social benefits ( Bürgergeld ) to direct 
integration into the labor market.
Thus, Ukrainian migration became crucial to the election campaign, and 
the AfD and the SBW won because they proposed a hard line, which 
includes cutting dedicated regional funds and incentivizing 
repatriation, aided by the phase of sharp demographic contraction and 
industrial decline, exacerbated by the recent political developments of 
September 2026.
Added to all this are the EU's environmental policies, and the 
conditions that led to this election result are all there.

AfD demands protection money

If these are the structural political reasons that determined the AfD's 
victory, it must be added that the neo-Nazis' victory also brings with 
it the rest of their program, which consists of marginalization and 
differential class discrimination for the disabled, racial purity, and 
the expulsion (read: re-immigration) of non-German citizens (a form of 
reversal of the blood law that applies in Germany regarding the return 
of German diasporas to the country), along with many other delights 
fished out of the Nazi hamper to re-propose, on the international stage, 
a Germany as hegemonic in Europe, demanding greater living space at the 
expense of its neighbors.
The parties of the left should reflect not only on the shortcomings of 
their programs regarding emigration and migrant integration, but also on 
their choice to leave a monopoly to opposition to the Ukrainian war, 
resulting in the draining of European finances, to finance a corrupt and 
liberticidal regime and provide state subsidies to more than a million 
Ukrainians. The Right is well placed to highlight the (censored) news 
coming from Ukraine, which unequivocally demonstrate the level of 
corruption and liberticidal degradation of that regime, making clear to 
everyone the futility of the motives that lead to support for Ukraine, 
against the material interests of every inhabitant of the states of Europe.

Magdeburg Western Pomerania

On September 20, West Pomerania, a state bordering Poland to the east, 
Mecklenburg to the west , the Baltic Sea to the north, and Brandenburg 
to the south, underwent a drastic reduction in population following the 
Second World War, which led to the transfer of Szczecin, its most 
important city, to Poland.
The state's total population is 1,573,685, with a median age of 48.1 
years (as of 2024) and a population density of approximately 68-70 
inhabitants per square kilometer, the lowest in all of Germany. This is 
a region where one of Europe's most modern steel mills operates, a 
highly energy-intensive industry located in the Uekermünd moorland. It 
benefited from low-cost energy, as the German Nord Stream 1 and 2 
terminal was located in Lubmin, in the north of the state. Hence the 
strong opposition to financing the war in Ukraine and the demand to 
resume economic and trade relations with Russia, a key proposal in the 
AfD's electoral platform.
Two shipyards are active in the state, and a pleasure boat builder 
operates in Greifswald. There are also high-tech industries and 
companies located in the area of the former Lubmin nuclear power plant 
near Greifswald, a city that also hosts a hub of technologically 
advanced industries, particularly in the field of biotechnology. 
Greifswald, despite high and growing unemployment, is considered one of 
the centers of greatest development among the Eastern European states.
Since German reunification, tourism in Western Pomerania, including the 
islands of Rügen and Usedom, has seen a very dynamic growth on the 
islands of Rügen, Hiddensee, and Usedom, and on the peninsulas of Darß 
and Zingst, as well as in Stralsund and Wolgast.
Today, around 50,000 people with a migrant background work in the state, 
considered crucial by economists to the local economy due to the low 
birth rate. The growth in support for the far right has been fueled by 
the presence of " völkisch settler " groups (extremists who buy property 
to create isolated communities), raising questions and concerns among 
foreign residents, especially Syrians and Ukrainians.
In the September 20 elections, AfD (Alternative for Germany): 38.2% of 
the vote - 32 seats; SPD (Social Democratic Party): ~35.5/36% of the 
vote - 29 seats; Die Linke (The Left): - 5 seats; Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 
(The Greens): - 5 seats; CDU (Christian Democratic Union): below the 5% 
threshold - 0 seats, excluded from the regional parliament for the first 
time in its history.
The absolute majority is set at 36 seats. With 32 seats for the AfD and 
the exclusion of the CDU, the political balance has shifted; the 
previous coalition no longer has the traditional numbers to be re-elected.
We are facing an unprecedented event in the history of the Federal 
Republic-where never before has a Union party (CDU/CSU) been excluded 
from a regional parliament-which could trigger unpredictable domino 
effects within the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social 
Union, up to the immediate replacement of Federal Chancellor Friedrich 
Merz, whose popularity ratings have long been at an all-time low and 
whose authority within the CDU itself is wavering.

Berlin

In Berlin, approximately 2.5 million voters are called to the polls to 
elect the new House of Representatives. Turnout was 73%, 10 percentage 
points higher than in the previous elections: the Left Party (Die Linke) 
is the leading party with 25.7% of the vote and 47 seats . The CDU 
(Central German Democratic Republic) has 18.8% of the vote, with 34 
seats; the AfD (AfD) has 16.3% of the vote and 29 seats; the Greens 
(Greens): 14.3% of the vote ( seats unspecified ); the SPD (SPD): 12.1% 
of the vote, with 22 seats. The previous CDU-SPD governing coalition has 
lost its majority, redefining the city's political balance. The 
assembly's minimum number of seats is set at 130, and a majority 
consisting of the Left Party, the SPD, and the support of some of the 
smaller parties is highly likely.
But the real novelty, and at the same time the key to the success, is 
the mayor and her platform. Elif Eralp, 45, of Turkish origin, a lawyer 
who passed her state law exam with excellent marks, the daughter of a 
socialist doctor and a nurse trainer, who fled Istanbul in 1980 on false 
passports after the generals' coup, having passed through Yugoslavia and 
settled in Munich: she will be Berlin's first female mayor from the Left 
Party, the first daughter of Turkish immigrants to hold this office.
Decidedly anti-capitalist, she has pledged to implement the 2021 
referendum, when 57.6% of Berliners voted in favor of the 
"socialization" of real estate giants . Vonovia, which owns 130,000 
homes in the capital and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange for 
one billion euros, also proposes socialization, stating that it must 
stop the daily profiteering of homeowners "from our rents, our income, 
our work."
There will be many obstacles, as the SPD's natural ally opposes these 
"socialist" measures. For now, the Left Party promises to forge ahead 
with the referendum: large corporations will be able to own and manage 
up to 3,000 homes, while all other properties would be transferred to 
"collective ownership." A commission of experts concluded that the 
measure would be constitutional; cost estimates range from 10 to 30 
billion euros. The aim is to reverse the trend of the last ten years, 
during which Berliners' rents rose by 77%, transforming what was once a 
low-cost capital that attracted young people, precarious workers, and 
undocumented immigrants like a magnet, into an "almost ordinary" 
international capital. "What's more democratic than affordable rents?" 
Eralp says. Especially in a capital where 85% of people don't own their 
homes.
Inspired by its anti-capitalism and realized socialism, Eralp uses the 
example of what Mamdani is trying to do in New York: he wants to 
expropriate the large real estate groups, make the city sustainable, 
affordable, as the Die Linke posters say. To support its election 
campaign, Eralp distributes three-euro meals in the squares: mashed 
potatoes, a sandwich, vegetables, and a banana: the social kitchen is 
another idea.
This will only scare away capital, now that it's finally arrived, say 
those in the CDU and sensible, bourgeois Berlin. But Eralp is a 
maximalist, improviser, voted for en masse by young people, who in one 
year have doubled their membership, reaching 123,000. Young people from 
Berlin, largely non-workers, in Berlin, which has always been a 
left-wing city.
The big loser of these elections is Friedrich Merz, who seems nailed to 
the seat he occupies, but most of the German political class is 
convinced that sooner or later he will succumb disastrously, while his 
party is busy digging his grave, the first of the phony leaders, foolish 
servants and proconsuls of the United States.

GC

https://www.ucadi.org/2026/09/29/la-crisi-irreversibile-della-germania/
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