i'm looking at some of the global challenges as we mentioned facing an extreme in government but the more immediate focus is likely to be a little closer to home the european union is central to germany's identity and germany is central to the e.u. success but these are of course difficult times for the union here's more. the turbulence in the eurozone seems to have passed but there's a new storm approaching italy the country with the zone's third largest economy is struggling with billions in debt italian banks are stuck with non-performing loans a countrywide bankruptcy would threaten the existence of the entire currency union . brecht's it marks a turning point for the e.u. the wrangling over the future relationship between europe and britain will cost both sides political energy for years to come what will happen to the e.u. citizens on the island will britain pay its debts or will brics it leave a big hole in the union's budget while a strong and confident e.u.

that's something not only brussels is pushing for french president emmanuel mccall wants a separate budget for the eurozone and the e.u. parliament as well as a currency minister european commission president john claude younker on the other hand is pushing for euro zone expansion he wants to bring all the e.u. member states into the currency union the e.u. is facing radical changes where does germany stand. where does germany stand let's bring back nicole ranvir from the german council on foreign relations and we are also rejoined by burned her to man from the european movement germany bernd welcome back to this great to have you here i want to turn to you first what does the selection mean for germany's role in europe given that chancellor angela merkel has lost a bit of ground here domestically has her position been undermined. the next government will be very pro european government in any case so it will be not that difficult for her than many people might expect before i think that that something

what is going on now in the next weeks and months is on the one side you have to form a coalition other than side you have to get partners in the european union to get the european project done this is not met was never easy so this is something what has to be done by her anyway so this new government will be quite challenging of cause when it comes new partners new ministers new coalition building that is something what is not that easy for her but from the clinton point of view the government position would not change that much and it's actually quite interesting because we remember of course younger basically saying that he hoped that things wouldn't change being of course one of the highest officials there in the european union it's clear that they might change in fact so nicole what do you think that the prospects then are for the you given that we might have to work with new german partners here that those relationships might need to be forged well why in the

international setting in which the new. new fraying for example the relationship that the united states but also to other countries with certainly not to be an easy ride in europe has to do a lot to stabilize itself and with a new government i think you have strong supporters of strengthening the evening with in jamaica coalition which we all expect we have. personalities like thanks and i got flounced off a was the vice president of the european parliament who has every strong relationship in the united states and is a very strong european saying count such that mr meehan who has spent at least a year in washington is also a committed european so i think in this respect the new government will lead very committed to the european cos i want to dig down into a little bit the details and talk a little bit about money now because we know that france's new president is pushing for more european integration i mean he and angela merkel have been very close on

that project in fact including a eurozone budget i mean this is something that's very controversial isn't it better because i mean the f.t.p. one of the potential coalition partners of angela merkel they say no way is this election potentially a spanner in the works for furthering the european project and more integration want to question doesn't just mean more integration in the euro zone first of all the many other issues like security migration energy policy that there are many things the government can agree with mr with mr president my call on the other hand side the eurozone deepening of course but what is expected tomorrow mr mcconnell saying that that we need to further integration that is never really easy germany there are many many stakeholders in germany who are not very much in favor of the deepening of the euro zone and also of the. bigger because share of money i think we have to listen to what we did together with mr jung i think

the talk before you made his speech in the european parliament this was something we have to make the whole setting bigger most take on the table and the european union has to become a more wider discussion plays it's not just germany and france this is very important to sign as a signal to other partners in the e.u. then you get another compromise then you might think about just accepting from paris thank you very much the call ranvir and burned thank you again for telling us a little bit more about germany's relationship with the e.u. and the challenges that might be ahead. well let's wrap up this look at the issues that are facing the new government by bringing things back home to germany because people often talk about the country as an economic powerhouse and on the face of it that is of course true but many people still believe that some of the strongest german industries like the car industry are not doing enough to keep up

with technical innovation and the world famous made in germany tag is losing some of the shine thanks to some high profile disasters with major infrastructure projects. germany's economy is booming unemployment is low companies are making healthy profits it would appear that everything is ok or is it. for years germany has invested very little in infrastructure such as roads bridges schools and high speed internet more investment is badly needed. large projects like hamburg philharmonic concert hall are taking longer and costing more than planned. berlin's new but long delayed airport is yet another example of bad

planning. germany's auto industry is dealing with the fallout from the diesel scandal while other countries are leading the way in car technology. when it comes to climate protection germany is also lagging behind including its much vaunted transition to renewable energy. yes we can say germany's economy is booming but it's in danger of being overtaken by its rivals when it comes to the technologies of the future. so what direction is the german economy heading and i'm joined now in the studio by your host from the european school of management and technology here in berlin thank you very much for being with us this morning so tell us i mean the german economy it's doing quite well now but that's largely a result of some reforms that were made you know a decade ago and also just general economic conditions how long can germany rest on those laurels does it need to make the economy more competitive absolutely yes

germany in fact very well unemployment rate is slow public that keeps decreasing everything looks very fine on the first place but at the same time it's very important to start picking up with reforms the last real reforms took place more than ten years ago in particular in the last election period over the last four years we've seen rather spending on social welfare then real reforms then investments and this is really what the new government needs to change. it's incredible when we look at just the general picture of the economy internationally speaking i mean we've we've had financial crises and the past decade which have been really hard for many countries around the world germany has been relatively immune to those crises but we have an environment here in europe where the central bank has a very loose monetary policy and it's sort of universally acknowledged that there might be challenges when it comes to tightening that policy how is germany positioned to deal with that germany in this sense is doing well given that public

that has been decreasing since the financial crisis so coming down from about eighty percent of g.d.p. now close to sixty percent but at the same time there's a real challenge for other countries in europe and all that might be a divergence in what the central bank really has to do so for example if the central bank decided to raise interest rates it may really trigger serious problems in some countries for example in italy if it does not raise interest rates it may really trigger inflation and some see in germany for example real estate becoming more and more expensive so therefore there will be real challenges and trade offs also the european central bank has to do fascinating stuff and we know that the majority of germans that they're happy with the economy they feel that they're benefiting from its gains as well but you know the backbone of this economy is the small and medium sized enterprises and topics for example such as digitalisation and the challenges that they pose i mean those are threats to those sorts of businesses or opportunities but you say well you could say that they are threats and opportunities but in certain certainly it needs to be the case that there is

a lot of investment needed for example in broadband infrastructure so that just the prerequisites. the european school of management and technology telling us a little bit more about the challenges and the opportunities ahead for the german economy we thank you very much appreciate it. if you have been watching special coverage of the german election my name is sarah kelly in berlin thank you very much for tuning in will see i'm going to top the.

hash tag germany decides what is your take on the whole position regarding not only climate change. germany has voted we answered your questions. asked d.-w. your questions about germany but if i had to. write to us on facebook we'll answer your questions.

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this is d w news live from berlin a bittersweet victory for at glamour she gets to keep her job as german chancellor but her authority is dented as her party suffers historic losses she says that she is ready for the challenge being in the i'm generally an optimistic person and for many years my motto has been that strength comes from staying calm. but how will she deal with this the far right a.m.d.

are entering parliament for the first time and they are vowing to go on the attack . be of reality we will hold mrs merrett call or whoever and we will take. our country and our people again. i'm sorry kelly a very warm welcome to special coverage of the german election angela merkel has won a fourth term as chancellor but the results cannot be seen as a ringing endorsement of her leadership it was her party's worst result in nearly seventy years the other member of the outgoing governing coalition the social democrats also suffering devastating losses both of these parties lost out to the anti immigrant far right a.f.d. which finished in third place and now enters the parliament for the first time

so let's go straight now to correspondent kate brady who is standing by for us on the streets of berlin with the very latest on this historic development here in german politics and kate you know we have to turn first of course to you know the results because on the face of it it appears like a victory for a miracle but a strong showing for the far right alternative for germany as we have heard what does this mean for the country and how much has the result damaged the chancellor. of course this is been a huge blow to the angle of merkel and so her christian democrats alone her party alone have lost a million votes today after day in yesterday's election and she said very clearly last night that there is a tough road ahead for her in the chancellery and also for her party and she has already said that it's one of going to be one of her main aims. to get back those

voters who have defected over to that far right party as far as a country is concerned of course we could well see a shift in the in the bundestag in the german parliament of discussion that taken a shift to the right but we also have to remember as well that there are around eighty seven percent of the of the electorate in germany that didn't actually vote for the f.t. at the same time we did also see protests as well in several big german cities last night so that could be something that we could see more of potentially in coming weeks. and kate we just have to tell our viewers you're looking at live pictures there of the leaders of the a.f.p. they are getting ready to kick off their press conference this morning the first press conference of the day of any of the political parties who will now be entering the german bundestag kate i'll turn back to you as as we wait for them to get to the stage there has the if the results shape the mathematics of coalition building in the german parliament because i mean after all the other parties they

say that they won't go into the government with them. well yes for sure because they of course the f.d.a. are now the strongest posse imposible and as you say none of those other posses the other five parties in the bundle willing to make a coalition with them and the s.p.d. the social democrats of also said that they want to go over to the opposition which would make them the leading policy in the opposition which leaves merkel's christian democratic union really with only one feasible coalition option which is a three party coalition that would be between the c.d.u. the liberal f.d.p. and also the greens but of course a coalition with more parties that have actually less votes tends to result in a weak a government a less stable government and that is the so-called jamaica coalition the coalition that probably many of you out there have heard us talking about that refers to the

colors of those three parties in fact they are also coincidentally the colors of the jamaican flag kate turning back to the f.d.a. now though because they've said that they hope to pursue merkel for alleged legal violations in the refugee crisis they actually used very strong language saying that they would hunt her down i hope to ask you a question but i actually understand that their press conference is now starting let's listen and see inputs and unsentimental questions but stacks took us to foreign and zero but very happy about this result. really means that the voters that's given us a mandate which is. the opposition and in the next chairman from this time eamon and so. you've got to vote. on to leave and this would mean that he also the central government we've seen that's just how it is if you actually look at the last few years the legislative hasn't

really been in control of executives from a disk to grieve and everything they didn't even discuss it all. up until today. refugee galaxy our military our government solution doesn't even have a star and go to a service is good to you and we will change the. game wanted to play it has its own supply and we wanted to ensure constructive its fine as of one of the opposition parties in one thousand stroman going to start they are happy about the election result and we thank our voters for trusting us god. if you're gonna hear me if you listen to you i don't really want to add very much to me and i don't mean you can read all the newspapers anyway of course it's been a big success for us but it's also been a big failure for the others i read in the build site and this morning that mr both passed said. that the union unfortunately left a lot of space to its right and that's true the union is not working on any topic

of any substance any more i grew up in a conservative party that was entirely different so that's. their inability inability to govern the country is also a fault of the s.p.d. . what should you think as a party whether foreign minister mr gabriele's it sits on a government bench with a refugee flow compassion but then says the refugee policy was entirely misguided how can you trust such a party if it's so let me say this. i know that we've been given a lot of advance trust and we will do as much as we can to keep the trust of much depends on what the other party system because we have said it loud and clear that we want to be a strong opposition and the hundreds talk as announced people in this talk asked again become a place for a debate and they have to deal with the social issues in the country which is not

happening now. i said it yesterday and i said it and they. election campaign i still remember when i was a young man that there were these big debates between hiram and are now about nato membership he asked politico other things tell me about a single meaningful debate that has taken place the last time and mr posner actually agreed with me on this was there any debate about and as a about russia about how to save the euro there are no such debates everybody just wants a consensus we want to bring that culture after being back to the board in a stark is a debate that also means that people know why certain decisions are made and who is responsible for that that is our task and this is what we'll be doing. or beautiful people with more weight on what good morning ladies and gentleman. you know after school and how hard. we have tried to germany one of the targets is that

one major success for the culture after page in germany. we have achieved almost thirty percent yes you also go to my ex. and we are actually the strongest party in saxony in my home state. we are only. ones could be the c.e.o. by a small margin but still only one thing and that tells us that people are looking for a new power in this state. and yes sir are disappointed by their large parties. seriously as speedy but at the same time they are hoping for a new heart in this is why they've elected the a i want to enter the parliament and parliament. being the opposition in the national parliament is a very challenging charts and we've always said that we want to remain realistic to

be able to do more and be an opposition but still it's clear to me. once when the next elections come we want to be prepared to fight to potentially also be in government. we hear now that people are discussing your so-called jim i can't coalition between the conservative party the greens and the democrats. and perhaps the coalition will emerge in the end if the s.p.d. doesn't cause and there is a grand coalition of that's. what i want. is that you look at the content of what the f.d.a. has been offering in its party platforms in the last two elections. and we now want to make sure that we practice out where this stuff is our staff our m.p.'s in the. honest heart of social good to make sure that what you not do little becomes harder also inlaid so in the past we've often very sidelined we've been misquoted. and

people have tried to paint a picture that is not true to a reality. wide and here i would like to thank all of the campaigners of the a life as compared to the other party as most of the people who supported us were volunteers and i would like to thank you very much indeed because they have made us their success possible. just one last word because i think on a day like this we should be open to the fact that there is also sometimes disagreement within our own party. and we must not be silent on this because you have to as i said we are supporting and opened at eight fifty in twenty one thirteen and until twenty fifteen i don't want to be a part of government as fast as possible it is still my ambition much. some people have called us and. i was kind of you know and this might mean that people

always thought we'd be ok as an opposition but people don't really expect that we could be in government this is not what i want i want to. be a part of government. i want to pursue a conservative they are politic. and after a long concentrations i have decided that i personally will not be a part of the a.f.p. parliamentary group and the german border sarkar. and please. i ask for your kind understanding not sure ask any questions about this and i will be available in the entrance hall if people ask questions there i think my colleagues here on the parliament on this podium and now i'm going to leave the room thank you. that's right. within the newspaper if i see this photo i don't think this is very very heavy year looks interesting and it was not very fast and we said we fear

journalists are using this podium after the federal press conference and then you just disappear. how is your return. thank you i don't know i have a floor that's for sure that was possible as i said being the chair of the federal press conference. i have to say explicitly that this is not appropriate behavior in this forum. so it is a good yes please will you give me the floor. right now sorry mr paper is confusing me so much mr martin place me. in a minute but first of all on behalf of my party i have to apologize two years before this is absolutely right this is not acceptable and we were not aware and

that is what happened before and. let's. read it now after this explosion of surprise. there is very little substantial i can say here so let me keep my intervention in the brief. i think what is obvious is that this was a tremendous success and we have had earlier successes as a matter of fact we got. a lot of firsts in previous state elections we have represented in almost all the states carmen's ago this is almost unique and of course we might be. troublesome groups sometimes here have just been able to witness that we believe that this is a part of democracy that if you've got a voter turnout was higher than in the past and i think this would this is one

reason for that is. participation and that is good for our country we now have more political diversity in the parliament we have a conservative camp we have a new opposition and that is very important i think mr hollande and ms lidl have said everything that needs to be said and i've also made it clear during the election campaign there will be every very on the surface opposition now and. will be good for our country that is our task. accept. any half hearted compromises and i mean ask us today whether we just want to create riot no we won't. i would consult with it's also let me well work very fairly and we will be constructive and try to work with the other parties. and i think i'll leave it at that and now we're happy to answer your questions and comments of people so we can ask questions. when this process questions may be asked by the

members of the five a press conference or to be a pita and perhaps with more time later we have one hour until around ten o'clock. the first question goes to mr viewing. of a question to you. i was present yesterday when you gave your speech. and there's been this one quote in the media. you said you were to hunt the government. and you said you want to reclaim our country and our people many people have responded to that. and some people have been asking me how and where should i be reclaimed i don't want to be reclaimed. and actually many people were scared by what you said. are you

aware of the fact that the ordinary german is scared of what you say is that part of here is strategy or what exactly is it that you want to do or reclaim. and how do you feel when debates have to be tough this is. me. and i sat before instead that this is not very common anymore in germany's and this is why it's wrong and the british parliament nobody would be upset if people said we're going to hunt that government and of course that's what people are outraged here you mention and that you must say now some people are scared what afraid is something that i can understand if that is the case something is wrong with our democracy a look at the old debates and that's how i'm out look out and she was of course mr

vader or chancellor charles said to me it's harmless compared to that of course you have to see how you recover men and parliament you have two hundred and so days in the political debate and that's what i wanted to express and that's what we're going to do. and not release you. don't tell me that i would fear mongering this is not what it's all about. and we want to reclaim our country as a slogan that you'd even plan on our election isn't posters and billboards and what we wanted is we want a new policy one million foreigners have come to this country and they're taking away a part of our country the f.d.a. does not want this and they've been voted into power to address this problem and this is why i used this wording. the recantation is

symbolical we're saying we don't want to lose germany. invasion of foreign people from foreign cultures that's all. past. this is to all people who have a german passport and it. comes good again could i please add something your. people sometimes insinuate that we were against any type of migrant. but it is a fact is that we have a seven digit number. of migrants in germany who are entirely integrated and by the way these are also this kind of hardly voters are here i have to give. i can and this is true very often i speak to people with migration biography or migration background tell me what's happening here is very much so at our expenses

. so. if we say we want to reclaim this country and this people it's because we have the feeling that it is carrying on the last and that country and that people includes people with migration backgrounds who have not only a german passport but who are germans in their hearts who have taken over our culture where other people argue there is no such thing as a german culture people who make a contribution to our society yes. all of this is related to our people when you were. mainly speaking on behalf of green minded ecological people of course are also a part of the german people. those who are not a part of either people who come here illegally. some just in pursuit of a better life and they have every right to try to do that. but there are these

people. steal the social benefits who make no contribution the truth about is a society and this is one where i don't want. you know. just. don't you understand that there are people who don't want to be reclaimed by you might just stop. believing in the best human but that they are legitimate opinion only so if you're saying that this is nor your opinion and i expect that's what you didn't vote for us to sentiment and that's just like eighty seven percent of the population didn't vote for us but this is our position and the fact that we are not alone with that musician is illustrated by the fact that around six million people have expressed their confidence in our policy during the elections. please let me say this many people ask

a question and that makes plain. what it means when we say we claim your country and this country this state has given up the rule of law it started recently rescued how soon it was a year old there is no legal basis for it is what. we have no pay out clause in the european treaties now states. must be liable for the debts of another member state at the same time this is precisely what's happening and then we have a refugee policy of open borders where everybody can just cross borders as they like we have a migration flows that is uncontrolled there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country. who are should be deported and aren't being deported. and all this migration policy that has been in place since twenty fifteen has no legal foundations. violates rule of law and this is why we want to reclaim our

country we want to have a legal basis once again because of course the time being it's being trampled underfoot by the city youth and the as. a now let's see what the water john mica. coalition well. it's like a forced marriage because they really don't go together very well they're just forming a coalition to keep us in the opposition. but the fact is this this state disregards. the rule of law this is why we say no to as you work with the slogan reclaim your country. just one additional piece is in the scientific service of the german. council this kind of school confirms that that's the chancellor and the government had no legal basis for their actions and the people who work there are all qualified lawyers they say there were no legal

foundations for is opening the borders for taking in all the refugees so if that is the case. and it comes out what should happen in a civilised country is that people don't support the chancellor anymore. and this is why so many people are shouting america has to go it's at the political rallies it's a fact she's broken the law she's open the borders without asking the column and without the support of the people. we are asking for everyone to comply with the law like mr martin mr garland. we just saw this paper leave your parliamentary group do you feel that you're responsible for that decision. mr

garland he also said that mr isil should be sent to anatolia. and you also say that you didn't want to be the chairman of your party along with miss piggy's who are you responsible for that decision. honestly i don't know why she decided to make this decision in front of the federal press conference. i don't think what you mentioned contributed to her decision. i'm a bit tired of repeating these two things and that makes claim. an integration commissioner who contrary integrate anythings because she doesn't think very highly of german culture and that perhaps she should better be in our country where possibly she knows more of the local culture.

and then i'm always being quoted on a german soldiers. when i asked me yesterday and there you go you go to saying that mature onset the same yes of course because that's what he did he said it's the same thing in one thousand nine hundred five what is so provocative about it i only repeated what a french president sat in a major speech on the eighth may be. and i don't think. this is the reason why mr payne who just left the room and since. you have been listening to the far right a day after their stunning results in last night's election and that dramatic results are followed by a dramatic press conference this morning party chairwoman of petrie walking out of the press conference saying that she will not be part of the parliamentary group

and saying that she will not answer any questions as to why we just heard alexander golland one of the party leaders discussing that issue saying that he also did not know why. let's bring in our panel of experts now to break down what it is that has just happened here joining us is hi a fun guy he is an expert on the german far right at berlin's free university and we also have oliver from yana friedrich schiller university he's an expert on the german political system gentlemen thank you so much for joining us to put this all into context and hi i will begin with you what do you make of what we just saw from the f.t. . you know. at this center between the chairwoman and the candidates for the parliament and you could have seen that since months it's a split in the middle of this party we've seen the f.d.a. just generally speaking as a party i mean they they are already known for walking out of debates so perhaps this is no surprise that front entry was also so dramatic today but just generally

speaking i mean they have tried to tap into this discontent among the voters on this dissatisfaction in germany all over what do you make of what we heard today. i think it's an expression of. a. swell of anger and resentment that we can and could see for a long time and now it has expressed itself into this kind of election success and they play a game they play a game for for attention so i don't think that this is the first and last example that we will acknowledge. but on a broader level i would say that they play also a game of reference they try to to come up with not only they have splits in sight but they also have so to say this idea of the pure people versus the corrupt elite and whenever they can make something out of it whenever they can try to pose it and

exploit this kind of theme they will do it and i think as we we just saw it already in the in the first press conference they don't they don't scale back their wrath ric's but they you know they basically pounce on all these and double down on it and try to make clear that they are fundamentally a position of fundamental opposition they have been ever looked at in their mind for being totally different then established parties as they like to call them and that's what they do what they do from the very first moment on we saw it now and we will most likely will see it a lot more often and just to highlight some of that rhetoric that we heard reiterated in the press conference we heard reclaiming your country promising to you know hunt members of the new government that you know of course bit of a violent terminology there i will turn to you because i just want to take a step back on for our international viewers and explain to them how significant it is that the f.d.a. will now be in parliament with nearly one hundred deputies in the bundestag what

does this mean for the german government and what does it mean for its place in the world. it means that we have a new challenge within the democracy democratic so. and the democracy system is stable although this party is clear account right wing radical as you have seen even racist towards decisive minorities the turkish people as he said mr goal and. against the refugees and against muslims four point seven million. muslims by this behavior a text and feed of scare as one of the journalists said on his behalf so it's really new it's radical and this is why other different to other countries there will be no cooperation and compromise by the

eighty six per cent of the other members of the new parliament and fact they have promised not to you know form a coalition to govern with them we just want to remind people i mean turning back to the party's leadership because you know to say that it is fractious as it is really perhaps a gentle assessment of our all to turn to you because you know we just saw a party chairwoman frank a patriot walking out of the press conference saying that she will not participate as a part of the harlem actually you know given that when we're talking about the a.n.c. the going forward how do you think that they will be in the voting to start. we have some experiences with them and the levels we know for at least to some extent we know hold a work within the realm of parliament and and so we know that we can

expect them to be so to say a driving force for player is a shot within the witness talk and i think already made it clear by saying you know he used that kind of rhetoric and he will stay in but they all will stay with it and stick with it and try to bring it in so to say because that's their opinion in their opinion it's a sort of a necessary contestation the politics desperately needs to have so to say and so they bring it in and in that science they think that they enrich on the mend so to say more or less deployed to size parliamentary discourse that's i think what we can expect from them and according to the official preliminary results just to remind our viewers they're coming in at around thirteen percent i understand for a day after. i was that something that surprised you how were you expecting them to fair and this election we could have seen that goes slowly from turn eleven so i'm not surprised. but of course it's split in the history of

the parliament in germany german chancellor angela merkel when she was speaking last night you heard a little bit of soul searching in her voice she essentially said that you know the c.d.u. c.s.u. needs to find out why these voters migrated to the f.d.a. because we know that the majority of the migration did come from the sea you see as you even if that soul searching is done all over i mean what comes in next now for the country well the good news is the grand coalition is over because the pot is a textbook example of what follows from a grand coalition and we have a grand coalition that's the rule and the texan as an exception of democratic. government so we shouldn't be too surprised that once you have a grand coalition the largest two parties don't compete for the majority but they stop basically competing for the majority in the senate up by instead they occupy

the center and by that forcing disagreement disappointment this and sort of say from the center to the wings of the party system and in that sense and that sense the after years sort of say quite quite a natural reaction to that so let's play the blame game a little bit you know and i'll turn to you heigho because you know this is a guy you know the government the previous government has one that has been in the center as as oliver has highlighted was that a mistake i mean did they make a mistake by allowing this rise of the f.d.a. who was responsible. first of all of the people who go with that kind of rising populist movement since twenty fourteen. the f.t. with. their you know racist rhetoric and of course behind that we have challenges with respect to social security

especially in eastern part of germany that is not. that is not done we have to have new solutions social solutions and what we have seen is that these kind of social fears you know unleashed to rage against scapegoats this is what this party did and you could have seen it today very clearly and this is the danger for democracy for democratic liberal culture so what the grand coalition could have done. of course they could have communicated better they could have done more debates but it was very clear and to to to describe want to part. that's all illegal is nonsense. oliver what do you think i mean was the debate not strong enough in the lead up to this election you know will recall of course that this was called a boring election yeah it was certainly not

a boring result so so what happened in the meantime i fully agree i mean it was a lame it was a lame campaign and it was exciting at the same time it was exciting because we had fascinating race for bronze medal for the for the place so to say but as far as the chancellorship is concerned it was basically over before it really began so that surely surely contributed to the to this kind of a rise but i think one has to see that the appeal of the broader then right wing extremists so that i think that it's necessary to understand where does this appeal come from and i think what the what both basically both large parties got wrong is it's not about economics it's not the economy stupid one could could say with. a little but it's still kind of a tool it's mainly about culture it's about culture and the reference i think clearly shows it's it has of course an economic resonance an economic sort to say

also an appeal to it but it's mainly about culture it's about dentity it's about history and stuff like that and and i don't mean to say these that these. minor things these are major issues which have not really been so to say technology worth by the large parties to parties and also kind of forgotten by all the parties and this is sort of a gap that now is filled by the right wing populist party whether one likes it or not and they bring up the issues people obviously feel not very well represented by and it's been interesting to see the trajectory of the platform of this party because of course this is not how they started out four years ago when they burst onto the political scene actually first is perhaps the incorrect word to use because they they they did. really got a lot of support in the last election certainly not as much as they got in this election i if you can just remind us of the roots of the f.d.a. and how it has progressed over the past couple of years were they for example

boosted by the n t is a long pig eat a party. whole thing. of twenty fourteen and they unleashed these kind of resentments against muslims they've been sort of fuji's from the beginning and the party took over that kind of resentment soon after some months with this person going on gentlemen thank you so much for your analysis i understand that you're going to stand by for us as we take our viewers through these election results heigho from an expert on the far right at berlin's for university and all of our from younus freidrich schiller university who is an expert on the german political system gentlemen thank you thank you. and we can cross now to my colleague sumi so much gonda she is in ferryman in eastern germany support there for the nationalist a.f.d.

is quite strong in simi i understand that you have been speaking with people there on the streets how did the a.f.d. appeal to them and why did they vote in favor of this party. sara you mentioned that support here is a strong for the if you just to give a our viewers an idea in the state of mecklenburg west pomerania the c.d.u. was the largest party with a little over thirty three percent of the vote the f.t. was the second largest party with a little over eighteen percent of the vote so how did the f.t. manage a success like that well we were actually at a an election party a regional party here last night and we heard when the leading candidates life they call him a thanking his supporters and fellow party members for their concerted efforts in getting the vote out and you really saw that you know everywhere within the city but also on the outskirts the a.f.d. was the best represented party in terms of election campaigning leading up to this vote and what they did if you look at the campaign posters that they put up everywhere they really played on voters' fears if you look at the polls from last

night all the people who cast their ballots for the f.t. mentioned that there they had fears they were afraid of changing society in germany something we heard from your guest changing culture but also of the rise of terrorism and the f.t. seem to successfully play on those fears sara one of those fares of course. fears of migration sue may how big a role did that specific issue play so you can't deny that definitely played a very large role for a.s.d. voters and the public broadcaster a r g a had some polls that they brought out this morning of what moved a.f.d. voters a to the polls last night and the biggest issues there were terrorism criminality and migration and sarah a significant statistic they asked about chancellor merkel's refugee policy and one hundred percent of the f.t. voters they spoke to said they were dissatisfied with the way that the chancellor handled her refugee policy and that's precisely what we heard from the voters we

spoke to here as well that was number one on their minds so we when you talk with people out there or how much do they believe in this platform for the a f j or is this a protest vote is this a message to the established parties we want change. well sarah i think the f.d.a. itself is very clear about the fact that a lot of their voters were in fact casting their ballots in a form of protest there was also a poll from the public broadcaster a.r.d. on that and it said that a sixty percent of the people who voted for the f.t. did so out of protest that's a very clear sign that being said sarah you also have to say that chancellor merkel she's been criticized for moving her party to the left over the last twelve years in office and that the f.t. also read represented simply a conservative party something that some voters here say has been lacking over the last twelve years that they have more right wing on the spectrum views and they feel like no party in the mainstream has represented their interests and they if he

is the first party to do so in many years so i mean i want to talk a little bit about the role of economics here because we know that germany just generally speaking that part of of the country since the wall has fallen the economy there has has not been as strong generally speaking as elsewhere in the country did that at all play a role i mean we've heard that economics was not a big role in this debate but was it for a fifteen voters. so i have to say that's exactly the opposite of what we heard here it may have not played a role on a federal level but certainly in the former east that's what people here have been telling us you know we also traveled across the country this summer for six weeks talking to voters and it was particularly in the former east in areas of the country where unemployment was a bit higher were people were struggling more where they had tendencies for expressing views that lined up more with the far right of the spectrum but also with the far left of the spectrum so and also the voters we spoke to a yesterday sarah's there were casting their ballots told us that economic issues

were number one these were people who said i work a full time job and i'm still struggling to take part in society and also pensioners were struggling with the amount that they receive every month and that was the deciding factor for many people sarah and that's something that we can't forget in this part of the country in particular is very unseemly so much gone down on the ground reporting there from sharon in eastern germany the city lying within chancellor angela merkel's constituency support there for the a.f.p. is quite strong thanks for your reporting sumi you're watching special coverage on of the german election here on news my name is sarah kelly just to remind you of what has happened in the past day angela merkel has won a fourth term as chancellor but the election result was painful for the country's two largest parties they have lost a lot of votes compared to the last election four years ago and that is true not

only for merkel's conservatives but also for the social democrats her center left coalition partners in the outgoing government now both parties say that they will work to win voters.