Free Republic

Thirty years since German reunification, the “new states” from the former East still suffer the effects of mass deindustrialization and emigration. But if reunification hasn't delivered the promises of 1990, socialists should recognize why most East Germans didn't defend the old system — and why welfare and public services aren’t enough to build a viable socialist society. Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of German reunification — a decisive event in the end of state socialism in Eastern Europe. On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), formerly one of the most enthusiastic members of the Warsaw Pact, was annexed...

Voting has ended in Saxony and Brandenburg, two states in the country's former east. Exit polls suggest that the far-right AfD will become the second biggest party in both regions.

Two senior German politicians have called for a more progressive form of Islam in order to align the religion with the European way of life. Health Minister Jens Spahn and Schleswig-Holstein State Premier Daniel Günther published the appeal Thursday in a guest contribution for the Rheinische Post regional daily. “Instead of tolerating symbols of a reactionary, misogynistic form of Islam, we must promote the development of a European Islam, which shares our values, in order to preserve our free European way of life,” penned the two Christian Democrats. The topic of burkas is one of particular concern for both Spahn...

For the third time since elections just over two months ago, an attempt will be made to form a new government this week in Sweden. The leader of the "Right" bloc Ulf Kristersson is set for his second try. His Moderate Party with its 70 seats and the Christian Democrats with their 22 seats are proposing a minority government in the 349 seat Parliament (Riksdag). They are hoping other parties will give their support without joining the government but the "Left" bloc is opposed along with some of "Right" parties, the Liberals and Center, if the Sweden Democrats vote to...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban easily won a third consecutive term Sunday and his Fidesz party was poised to regain its super majority in parliament, according to preliminary results from the country's election. With 84.7 percent of the votes counted, Fidesz and its small ally, the Christian Democrat party, had secured 133 of the 199 seats in the legislature, the minimum needed for a two-thirds majority. The right-wing nationalist Jobbik party placed second with 26 seats, while a Socialist-led, left-wing coalition ran third with 20.

Although Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have lost 9 percent compared to the last elections, her party has yet again become the largest party in Germany's parliament today. Merkel's CDU won 32.5 percent of the vote. That's significantly less than four years ago, but because Germany's electorate is more divided than ever before, it's enough to make her chancellor once more. Well, if she's able to form a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats and the Greens, that is, who finished the day with respectively 10.5 and 9.4 percent of the vote. For Merkel, the results will leave a bitter taste...

BERLIN (AP) — A leading candidate to be mayor of Cologne was stabbed and seriously wounded Saturday by a man who claimed anti-foreigner motives, an attack that Germany's interior minister said underlined growing concerns over hatred and violence in the refugee crisis. Henriette Reker was stabbed in the neck at a campaign stand set up by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats at a market. Her condition was stable, police chief Wolfgang Albers said. Reker is an independent candidate in Sunday's election for the new mayor of Germany's fourth-biggest city, but is backed by Merkel's conservatives and two other parties. The...

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Essen will distribute the German Constitution in response to Salafists’ plans to give out free copies of the Koran in the city on Saturday. But Muslim residents say they’re creating a false opposition. “In a time when the threat from Islamist criminals is greater than ever, we have to combat the Salafists with all democratic means.”, president of the local CDU chapter Franz Joseph Britz told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. But some Muslim residents of Essen were dismayed by the way the CDU had chosen to counter the Salafists. …

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl—the architect of German reunification—admitted he would never have won a referendum on the adoption of the euro in his country and said he acted “like a dictator” to see the common currency introduced. … Germany’s chancellor between 1982 and 1998, Kohl said it took him “years” to build the trust and negotiation skills to convince other European leaders of his ideas and push them through. … In addition, the freshly reunified East Germans, happy to finally have their Deutsche Mark back, would never have voted in favor of abandoning it again for a new European...

Most Germans regard social justice and fairness as the most important issue for Germany’s upcoming general election, a recent poll revealed—something the center-left opposition is hoping to use to unseat Chancellor Merkel. For 54 percent of voting-age Germans asked by opinion polling association Insa, how a party approached social justice was the most important issue for them in choosing whom to vote for in September. This was even higher in the over-45 category, in which 60 percent named it as their priority. …

'A Scotsman who married in a kilt, supports Rangers, likes white pudding and drinks Irn-Bru is now being tipped as the possible ruler of Germany. After climbing high and fast through the ranks of Germany’s CDU conservative party, pundits speculate great things lie in store for 41-year-old David McAllister, who is up for re-election as governor in the state of Lower Saxony later this month. The son of a German mother and a Scottish father from the tough Gorbals area of Glasgow, he is recognised as one of the leading figures in Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union party. He has...

AMSTERDAM—The Netherlands lurched deeper into political limbo Tuesday after renewed efforts to form a coalition government broke down amid disagreements about the scope and speed of economic overhauls. [snip] The center-right Liberals were negotiating with a center-left trio of the Labor Party and the smaller Democratic Liberals and Green Party.

A call by a German politician of Turkish origin for a ban on Christian crosses in state schools has sparked uproar in her conservative party and death threats from far-right groups. Ayguel Oezkan, the 38-year-old daughter of Turkish immigrants, is poised to become social minister in the centre-right government of the western state of Lower Saxony, and called for the ban in an interview with a German magazine. 'Christian symbols do not belong in state schools,' she told weekly Focus last week. 'Schools should be a neutral place.' Members of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela...

EUROPE'S CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS Monday, May. 25, 1953 ooking out over devastated Europe at war's end in 1945 the journalists of the world—plain reporters and exalted pundits—considered the future and, to a man, came to the same conclusion: Europe would go left and socialist. The right, dishonored by the Petains and Papens, and by its devotion to 19 century capitalism, was doomed. The center, caught between the stridencies of right & left, and forced to choose, would have to go left. Communists and Socialists had made a name in the undergrounds and concentration camps. And in the end, Socialism, the wave...

The far-right Sweden Democrats have increased their support to a record 5.6 percent, according to a new voter poll published on Thursday. The Pirate Party, fresh from its success in the EU elections, has however fallen 1.3 percentage points and enjoys 2.9 percent support, according to the poll by United Minds and Cint which was published in the Aftonbladet newspaper. Since the previous poll in July the Sweden Democrats have increased their support by 1.5 points. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson is aiming for even higher in the general election to be held next year. "Our goal is to land on...

"The Minister for Social Affairs angered many of his own party members earlier this year with a decision to allow foreign women to come to Sweden for abortions. Hägglund has also rejected suggestions by party colleagues that the upper limit for abortions without special permission should be reduced from 18 weeks to 12 weeks. "The Christian Democrats want to keep the 18-week limit for abortions. The outcome was clear and I hadn't expected anything else. "

          If you support abortion and homosexual marriage, then you are a Democrat, but you are not a Bible believing Christian. If you believe that God and the State are so incompatible that any mention of His name must be banned from the public schools, then you are a Democrat, but you are not an evangelist, and if you also believe that all religious symbols must be banned from the public square, you are a Democrat, but you know nothing about the “First Amendment”.          Recently I overheard two Christians debating whether Obama is a Muslim or a Christian. Neither of...

The Christian Democratic Organization of America warns about risks of Populism and calls upon related parties to work to remove rulers like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro from power. By: Jose Contreras and Adolfo Sanchez Venegas Sunday 28 January 2007 | Hour of publication: 12:47 p.m. The Christian Democratic Organization of America (ODCA) will promote the transition to democracy in Cuba and the liberation of political prisoners and will strive for the recovery of those governments in Latin America which are in the hands of the Left, the President of the body, Manuel Espino Barrientos, indicated. In a press conference,...

Merkel's 'small steps' bring giant leap in popularity By Tony Paterson in Berlin (Filed: 22/01/2006) Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, has confounded her critics by emerging as the country's most popular leader for more than a decade - only two months after being elected. Dismissed only six months ago as a humourless and dowdy East German, Mrs Merkel is riding a wave of unprecedented public approval that last week placed her at the top of Germany's key opinion poll rating for politicians. Angela Merkel's image has changed for good The monthly survey conducted by the ZDF television channel found voters rated...

Exit polls showed conservative challenger Angela Merkel's party leading in German parliamentary elections Sunday but falling short of the majority she needed to form a center-right coalition as the nation's first female chancellor. Gerhard Schroeder refused to concede defeat and said he could still theoretically remain in power if talks with other parties were successful. "I feel myself confirmed in ensuring on behalf of our country that there is in the next four years a stable government under my leadership," he said to cheering supporters at his Social Democrat party headquarters. But Merkel claimed her party received a mandate from...