Germany: election in Thuringia and Saxony. Worried voices from the Catholics’ Committee and Caritas. “Government between democratic forces”

Here are the first few reactions to the results of the election in the Eastern Länder of Thuringia and Saxony. The success of the far-right, populist party AfD – Alternative for Germany, top of the list in Thuringia and second best in Saxony – proposes once again a rejection of any political alliance from Christian associations with a party that is outspokenly “divisive” and “alien to the German democratic political fabric”. Caritas Germany asks to strengthen the welfare state: “If you listen carefully, you will feel a great need for security, especially social security”, the President, Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa, said in Berlin today. Charitable associations such as Caritas need reliable partners for their work at all political levels: “a strong welfare state that reliably meets people’s needs depends on cooperation among all government levels, as well as good cooperation between public and private welfare”. While AfD is a party that crushes our values”, Welskop-Deffaa highlighted, so a strong civil society is required against all this, too: “When democracy fails to meet people’s expectations, the enemies of democracy have it easy”. “Democratic parties have the colossal duty to form a stable majority government that in the next few years will be able to support the solution of Thuringia’s pressing social tasks”, Monika Funk, director of Erfurt’s diocesan Caritas, stated. The result of the election shows “that the seeds of populist and extremist forces are increasingly growing”, Irme Stetter-Karp, president of Zdk – Central  Committee of German Catholics – stated in Berlin today. What matters now is “using democratic majorities to beat AfD in governmental alliances”. The result of over 30% for AfD in Saxony and Thuringia is a “shocking result” that should worry all of Germany. Stetter-Karp hopes “all democratic forces will reflect on the force of liberal democracy in the difficult coalition negotiations that are drawing closer, especially in Thuringia”.Valentina Bombelli