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New York Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Germany Wants Recruits. But ‘No One Wants Their Children in the Army.'
On a rain-soaked morning in late May, dozens of parents gathered on the outskirts of Rüthen, a small town in western Germany, to watch their children race go-karts around a slalom track. Behind them, flanked by two olive-drab supply trucks, stood a contingent of recruiters from the German Army. In between races, the children climbed around the vehicles, followed by recruiters eagerly gauging their interest in one day joining their ranks. The children smiled. Many parents did not. 'I think it's terrible that they advertise to kids,' said Manuel Fleigner, a civil servant. 'No one wants their children in the army.' Germany has long sought to extinguish the militarism that fueled its calamitous history during World War II. But now, facing a growing threat from Russia and the prospect of reduced American support, the government is desperate to change that. It is finding the challenge formidable. In a survey in June by the Forsa Institute, only 17 percent of Germans said they would defend their country if attacked. 'Younger people don't really see the purpose of why they should put their lives at risk for Germany,' said Aylin Matlé, a fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pollster sees uncertainty in small parties ahead of German election
With just a few days to go before Germany's parliamentary election, political pollster Manfred Güllner said he has never seen so much uncertainty around possible coalition configurations for the country's next government. "I can't remember it ever being so uncertain and close as to who can even form a coalition," Güllner, the founder of the Forsa Institute polling firm, told dpa on Tuesday. "This election could be the first time that it is not enough for a two-party constellation without" the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), he said. Barring an outright majority, which is not anticipated, parties in Germany have to work together to form a coalition government. The AfD, which has consistently polled in second place at between 20% and 22%, is widely viewed as an extremist party outside the democratic mainstream in German politics, and every other significant political party has vowed never to work with it. Germany's domestic intelligence agency is monitoring the AfD as a suspected right-wing group. Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), remain the clear front-runners in the polls at 27% to 30%. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), a storied political party that was long the other dominant force in German politics, has struggled in the polls at just 15% to 17%, a big fall from the nearly 26% the SPD scored in 2021. The Greens have been polling in fourth place with 12% to 14%.
