The far right is throwing Berlin into chaos

There is a great deal of confusion in German politics, a consequence of the strong showing by the far right in the recent regional elections, first in Saxony-Anhalt and then in Mecklenburg and Berlin. In the German capital, the Social Democrats and the Greens – both of whom emerged battered from the vote – have begun ‘exploratory talks’ with the socialists and communists of Die Linke to form a new city government. A move that has provoked, and continues to provoke, disapproval not only from the Christian Democrats (who were trounced by Die Linke at the polls) but also from the national leaderships of the Greens and Social Democrats themselves, who are astonished to see their Berlin comrades joining forces with a party that, in Berlin, has proven itself to be largely anti-Zionist and colluding with unsavoury characters (ranging from members of Turkish-Lebanese criminal clans to representatives of terrorist organisations such as the PFLP and Hamas).

Talks broke down on Tuesday when Die Linke admitted the newly elected MP Vanessa Emde – an outspoken anti-Israel activist – into its parliamentary group, and resumed on Wednesday when Emde made a partial U-turn. The SPD’s deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Siemtje Möller, said she was “deeply irritated” by the party’s decision in Berlin, but the national SPD itself is in trouble following Bärbel Bas’s surprise resignation as Minister for Labour and as co-chair of the SPD. The announcement was so unexpected that it prompted the other co-chair, Deputy Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, to cancel an official trip to India.

And whilst Manuela Schwesig, the Social Democratic governor of Mecklenburg – the only leader of national stature to have stood up to the AfD at the polls – is warming the bench, in Saxony-Anhalt the AfD and the red-brown BSW have voted in favour of a joint motion calling for an end to military aid to Ukraine. The matter falls within the federal government’s remit and may be seen as a sort of dress rehearsal for a coalition, although the BSW insists this is not the case, thereby sweeping away the last remnants of the firewall built around the AfD.