Wilders delighted by far-right AfD's gains in German election; Others concerned
PVV leader Geert Wilders is delighted by the gains made by the radical right-wing AfD in the German elections, congratulating his kindred spirits in all caps on X. Other Dutch parliamentarians are concerned by the further rise of the far-right in Europe.
The German voters have dealt a harsh blow to the coalition parties that governed Germany in recent years. The SPD got 16.4 percent of the votes, -9.3 percent compared to the previous election in 2021. The CDU/CSU did come out as the largest party, but only won a few percentage points, NOS reported. The CDU/CSU received 28.5 percent of the votes, 4.4 percent more than last time.
The gains mainly went to the flanks. The radical right-wing AfD doubled its support and came out the second-largest party with 20.8 percent of the votes, 10.4 percent more than in the previous election. The socialist De Linke also gained significant support. As dit the left-conservative BSW, though it just missed the electoral threshold.
PVV leader Wilders is delighted by the AfD’s win and the defeat of the social democrats led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “GRATULIERE,” Wilders posted on X to the AfD and party leader Alice Wiedel. In another post, he called Scholz “the German Frans Timmermans,” gloating that he has been “finally hacked to pieces.”
GroenLinks-PvdA leader Franst Timmermans wrote on X that he hopes the CDU leader and a new coalition in Germany “will be able to turn the tide” so that “the extreme right will not grow any further and that the many concerns of the citizens will be addressed and resolved within the framework of the democratic constitutional state.” He congratulated Merz on the victory.
CDA leader Henri Bontenbal called it “particularly important now” for European cooperation that the CDU/CSU - the kindred spirits to his CDA - have become the largest party in Germany. He said he was looking forward to cooperating with the party and likely new Chancellor Merz.
D66 Mp Jan Paternotte pointed out that the AfD’s results are somewhat less good than expected, which is a point of hope. Russia and the United States tried to boost the AfD, he said to ANP. “But now they are in for a rude awakening. The extremists have not succeeded in winning these elections.”
Paternotte hopes that Germany can provide the leadership that Europe needs. “It is now up to Friederich Merz to show that he can pull the economy out of the doldrums and make Europe more resilient in the field of defense. Merz can become that ‘missing link’ between European leaders. They must dare to take steps that they previously did not want to take. I hope that they will form a coalition soon. We must get moving quickly.”
