By Vestnik Kavkaza
Over the weekend, Germany made its choice for the next four years. The Christian Democratic Union of Angela Merkel won the election. Its main rival - the Social Democratic Party of Germany - gained one third less votes. But Merkel’s ally - the Free Democratic Party - for the first time could not get into the Bundestag, unable to overcome the five percent barrier.
Russian experts told VK what it means for Russia and for Europe.
The head of the working group of the Public Chamber of International Cooperation, Alexander Sokolov, expressed the opinion that with Angela Merkel, Germany has shown itself as a willing partner of Russia, and this trend will continue after the elections. Merkel's current government, especially in the second period of her term in office, conducts a pragmatic foreign policy which is more acceptable for Russia than a change of policy by the victory of her political rivals. Germany's reaction to the recent foreign policy initiatives on the part of Russia shows that, as for this country, we have if not an ally, then, at least, a willing partner".
Sokolov called the fact that the Free Democratic Party of Germany with its more ideological positions at the elections of September 22 failed to overcome the five percent threshold for representation in the parliament an evidence of the popularity of pragmatic sentiments in the German society.
Andrei Nikitin, Vice-Rector of the Moscow Institute of Finance and Economics, thinks the failure of the FDP to get into the parliament is a manifestation of the crisis of the liberal paradigm in the form in which it existed, as it came from the 1990s: "This applies to domestic issues. This also applies to foreign policy issues. And again, I stress that this crisis of the liberal paradigm has affected not only Germany".
According to Nikitin, the CDU/CSU and SPD represented in the Bundestag will try to implement social purposes: "This trend is represented not only in Germany. This is the coming of the socialists in France to power, you know. And this is the fact that in other countries left-wing forces are strengthening their positions. I think this is also a reflection of a certain trend. There is another remark that I want to make. The fact is that yesterday I was at the embassy of Germany observing the tabulation of results. And there a very good rating, I would say, a survey of voters leaving the polls was given. And the people who voted for, say, Angela Merkel, increasingly voted for her as an individual. And the people who voted for the candidate of the Social Democrats largely voted for the program. Indeed, there is a basis for a grand coalition, and it is in the sociality. But I see some differences. Why did people vote for Angela Merkel, but at the same time, there was a lot of dissatisfaction? Because Merkel quite skilfully navigated the German political and economic ship through the waves of the global financial and economic crisis. Indeed, Angela Merkel tried to bring order to the EU, and it has not gone unnoticed in terms of financial independence and so on. But apparently, like some important social issues that concern the man on the street, his requests were never met".
