Free Republic

Traditional parties are starting to get nervous about the upcoming Berlin state parliament election as the upstart far-right AfD party has been gaining support. A poll by broadcaster ARD and research group Infratest dimap released on Thursday evening showed that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could gain 15 percent of the vote in the upcoming Berlin state parliament elections set for September 18th. The AfD’s support in Berlin has been hovering around 15 percent in the Infratest dimap polls since April. The current reigning Social Democrats (SPD) got just 21 percent in the poll, followed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s...

Already in 2016, more people have drowned in German waters than in the whole of 2015, with the German Lifeguard Service (DLRG) saying refugees are significantly over-represented in the figures. In the first eight months of 2016, 425 people drowned, either at sea, in lakes or in swimming pools. This figure was an increase of 46 deaths on the whole of last year. Particularly striking is the fact that 56 of the dead in this year’s figures were refugees — more than 13 percent of the total. Some local communities have started offering swimming courses for refugees, recognizing that many...

German economic growth will nearly halve in 2017 as Brexit and other risks hit exporters, the DIW institute said on Thursday, although it predicted a pick up to 1.9 percent this year due to strong domestic demand. The subdued outlook followed a string of economic data which painted a bleak picture for German manufacturing, with industrial orders barely rising in July and output posting its steepest drop in nearly two years. "The German economic engine is likely to start stuttering for a while," DIW said in a statement, adding that Britain's decision to leave the European Union would limit Germany's...

Germany on Wednesday warned Britain against negotiating free trade deals with non-EU member states before it quits the bloc, after Prime Minister Theresa May sought to drum up commerce agreements during a G20 summit in China. “As spokesman of the German government, I am not going to judge who the British prime minister holds talks with,” Steffen Seibert told journalists in Berlin. But he stressed that “it is clear that an EU member state cannot hold bilateral talks on free trade deals with non-EU states as long as it remains a member of the EU”. …

Germany is preparing to train troops to be deployed within its borders for the first time since World War II amid fears of terrorist attacks. The country’s armed forces will hold joint drills with police early next year, officials confirmed. […] Plans to involve soldiers in counterterrorism operations — and the suggestion troops could also be used to beef up security in public places — have proved controversial in a country only seven decades removed from totalitarian rule that’s still grappling with guilt from the Nazi era. A 2012 constitutional court ruling paved the way for the deployment of the...

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A sociologist from the Karlsruhe University of Education is giving a presentation on Wednesday about why both immigrants and Germans alike should take integration classes. “The motto must be: integration classes for all,” said professor Annette Treibel ahead of her presentation at a conference in Rostock called “Integration — How does it work? Education, work and culture”. The day-long series of lectures and discussions is focused on how the country should address the social implications of hundreds of thousands of refugees who have come to Germany. Treibel will be giving a talk about how integration is for both “old and...

Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her refugee policy on Wednesday, saying that the situation had improved drastically — for Germans as well as refugees. “We have just been through a year that demanded a lot from us, but the situation now is so much better than it was a year ago,” the Chancellor told the Bundestag in a discussion which was actually on the federal budget. Merkel mentioned reinforcement of the Frontex EU border defense agency, a new NATO mission in the Mediterranean and a refugee deal signed with Turkey in March as evidence of progress in coping with an influx...

One of Germany’s best-known Islamist preachers went on trial in the western city of Düsseldorf on Tuesday on charges of backing “a terrorist group” fighting in Syria. Sven Lau, 35, stands accused of supporting and recruiting fighters for the Syria-based Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA), or Army of Emigrants and Supporters, which Germany lists as a terrorist organization. A convert to the ultra-conservative Salafist branch of Islam, Lau gained notoriety in 2014 when he organized a vigilante “Sharia Police” group that patrolled German streets seeking to enforce Islamic law. …

But she basically went on to insist the German people did not know what was good for them and she just had to be more persuasive. Mrs Merkel’s CDU party was beaten into third place by the right wing Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in her home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. CDU could muster only a pitiful 19.2 per cent of the vote compared to the victorious AfD's 21 per cent, leading to growing scepticism about Merkel's ability to cling onto power in Germany after her party also lost three elections to the AfD in March. Today at the G20 Summit...

Those who consider themselves as “very right wing” are more likely to have a satisfactory sex life, according to a new European survey by YouGov that interviewed over 19,000 people. Just 66% of “left wing” Brits claimed to have a satisfactory sex life. This was significantly less than the 73% of Brits who considered themselves both “very right wing” and sexually satisfied, and the 70% who considered themselves “right wing” and satisfied. In Germany, 77% of those who considered themselves very right wing also claimed to be satisfied in bed, while 71% of very left wing people claimed to have...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats were beaten into third place by the anti-immigrant and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a north-eastern state election on Sunday, TV exit polls showed. In a stinging defeat for Merkel in her home district that could weaken her chances of a fourth term in next year's federal elections, the upstart AfD took 21.9 percent of the vote behind the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by campaigning hard against the chancellor's policies on refugees, according to a projection by ARD TV at 1.15 p.m. ET. "This isn't pretty...

To make changes in the EU, 28 nations all have to agree. Thus, it takes years to negotiate treaties, in the best case scenario. In regards to the refugee crisis, a number of countries have essentially to her highness, Angela Merkel “Go to hell”. The average citizen is fed up, even in Germany. And things are about to get worse because a flood of migrants is again pouring into Europe, this time into Italy. How will Merkel respond this time? To make changes in the EU, 28 nations all have to agree. Thus, it takes years to negotiate treaties, in...

The 19-country eurozone lost some economic momentum in August, largely because of a slowdown in Germany, a closely watched survey showed Monday, days ahead of another possible stimulus package from the European Central Bank. Financial information company IHS Markit said its purchasing managers’ index — a broad gauge of economic activity — for the eurozone fell to a 19-month low of 52.9 points in August from 53.2 the previous month. The fall was unexpected as the initial estimate for August was 53.3. In spite of the fall, the eurozone is still growing, albeit sluggishly as anything above 50 indicates expansion....

The German branch of the anti-mass migration Identitarian youth movement occupied the iconic Brandenburg gate to slam the migrant policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The hipster-right Identitarians accomplished perhaps their biggest and most spectacular protest in Germany Saturday, unfurling a banner on Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg gate that read, “secure borders, secure future.” The group managed to scale the landmark on Saturday afternoon and claim that they did so to protest the Federal government of Angela Merkel.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats fell to third place in a state election on Sunday behind the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, TV exit polls showed. In a stinging defeat for Merkel one year ahead of parliamentary elections, the upstart AfD won 21 percent of the vote in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state by campaigning hard against the chancellor's policies on refugees, according to an exit poll by the ARD TV network.

For the first time in five years, Germany has begun contemplating the idea of sending migrants back to Greece as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s national popularity plummets from public outcry against her open door policy – a political shift that may have lasting reverberations throughout the European Union.

Last Thursday we previewed that in today's regional election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the home state of Angela Merkel, she was looking at the unthinkable: losing and not just to anyone but to her nemesis, the anti-immigration AfD. This is what we reported: "According to the latest shock poll, released late on Wednesday, the AfD is leading the CDU by 23 percent to 20 percent, with the Social Democrats, who currently run the rural state in coalition with Merkel’s party, at 28 percent support. What’s more, according to Bloomberg the AfD’s recent history in regional votes suggests it will perform better...

BERLIN – The teachers union in the city of Oldenburg published an article in its September paper calling for a complete boycott of the Jewish state, sparking criticism from Israel’s embassy, German teachers and pro-Israel activists, as well as the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It appears to be the first call to boycott Israel or Jews from a German organized labor group since the Holocaust.

> The Chief of Frankfurt’s police is warning lawmakers to take the threat of underage radical Salafist children seriously in order to prevent potential future acts of terror. The threat of Islamic terrorism in Germany has greatly increased over the past year, in a large part due to the migrant crisis as well as the radicalisation of very young Muslim boys and men. The chief of Frankfurt’s police force warns that the trend could continue as more young Muslim boys are educated in Salafist schools that put them on the path to terrorism reports Die Welt. Wolfgang Trusheim, head of...