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In this edition, we reflect on the big takeaways from the German federal elections and discuss the recent wave of copycat violent attacks across Europe.
We are joined this week by Bruno Waterfield, one of the longest-serving newspaper correspondents in Brussels working for The Times, Sophie Pornschlegel, French-German political scientist with the Europe Jacques Delors Institute and Kim Smouter, executive director of ENAR – the European Network Against Racism. The panel breaks down the headlines of recent Bundestag elections in Germany. The conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who won the elections, says he aiming to close a coalition agreement with the SPD in a very “short time”. Another major takeaway was the far right AFD coming second and the socialists witnessing their worst defeat for decades. “Germany is not what it was”, lamented Bruno Waterfield blaming policies in the recent past for grinding the economy to a halt. However, he cheered the fact that higher turn out was so high in these elections. “This could be about renewal”, he said. The panel also reflected on the recent attacks that have taken place across Europe in Munich, Mulhouse, Aschaffenburg and Berlin that have been instrumentalized by certain politicians. “One of the biggest issue I find is that it’s very easy finger pointing what’s happening rather than actually addressing the root causes, which is a lack of integration policy, lack of funding also”, said Sophie Pornschlegel mentioning a friend of hers who moved to Berlin from Iraq but was not allowed to work for over 3 years. “My concern is that indeed we’re taking these lone attacks, these lone wolf attacks, and we’re painting them on communities”, warned Kim Smouter from ENAR. However, Bruno Waterfield called for an ‘honest discussion’ around the topic adding that people want to be able to enjoy carnival season and big outdoor public events without thinking about the threat of a potential attack. Watch “Brussels, my love?” in the player above.
