GERMANY

Amid fears of a rising populist tide across Europe, Germany seems to be resisting its rightward tug - but that does not mean that the far-right is not present in the country.

The Alternative for Germany party was founded in 2013 as a protest movement against the euro currency - today it is polling at 10% ahead of the elections later this year and it is expected to be the first right-wing populist party to enter the Bundestag since WW2 ended more than 70 years ago.

The anti-establishment party has been critical of further European integration and bailouts by the eurozone for countries such as Greece. It argues that elite, establishment politicians are too remote from ordinary voters, and that more policies should be decided by Swiss-style referendums. They capitalised on a nationalist backlash against Angela Merkel when she allowed more than a million migrants in Germany during the refugee crisis back in 2015. José Matar, a political scientist in Germany says that AfD’s success also shows an east-west divide in the country.

“The east is, to a certain extent, disadvantaged and they’re often made fun of due to their lower standard of living.They resent this, and that’s why they rebel against the establishment,” he says.

Although populism is very much present in Germany, it is highly unlikely that Alternative für Deutschland will challenge mainstream parties anytime soon: now that they have seen other alternatives, Germans value Merkel more than anything.

“The stigma of the nazis is still here-  people cherish the EU and they see Germany as a good example for other countries. German nationalism is not gone, but it has taken a different character and people are proud of how non-nationalist they are.”

The support for Merkel and the Christian Democrats party clearly shows as the party is currently polling at 37% to the SPD’s 25%. Last week, her main challenger, Martin Schulz, has suffered a “really stinging defeat” in a state election. On the other hand, extreme parties made gains as well, a fact that is cannot be ignored.

“It’s indicative of the dissatisfaction amongst the electorate," says Mr Matar "And we also have to take into account that CDU had to make significant changes to its policies (in the direction of AfD) in order to regain their popularity."

The next general election in Germany is scheduled to be held on 24 September 2017.