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POLITICS

Merkel still ‘most popular politician’ in Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel is still Germany's top politician and her party is doing very well too, according to a new survey.

Published: 26 June 2020 16:56 CEST
Merkel still 'most popular politician' in Germany
Angela Merkel on June 24th. Photo: DPA

Merkel's handling of the coronavirus crisis has been praised across the world.  And it appears it's also being recognised by voters in Germany.

Merkel's party, the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), and its Bavarian sister party the CSU, increased in popularity among voters to 40 percent, according to a new poll – the highest amount in almost three years.

The CDU and CSU last achieved a similarly strong figure in August 2017, before the federal election campaign began. During this time, the Union managed to gain 32.9 percent.

In the latest ZDF 'Politbarometer' published on Friday, the Union's new result was an improvement by one percent compared to previous weeks.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) remain at 15 percent, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at nine percent, and the Left Party (die Linke) at seven percent. The Greens lost one point, gaining 19 percent.

And the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) gained one point to log five percent.

Meanwhile, Merkel remains by far the most popular politician in Germany. On a scale of plus five to minus five, she improved slightly to 2.6 points, followed by CSU leader Markus Söder with 1.9, and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) with 1.8.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) gained ground and passed North Rhine-Westphalia's state premier, Armin Laschet. The candidate for the CDU chief position lost points slightly, landing at 0.5.

Overwhelming majority for stricter laws for slaughterhouses

Meanwhile, according to the survey, the vast majority of citizens in Germany are in favour of stricter regulation of slaughterhouses, even if this results in higher prices of meat.

READ ALSO: Germany fights to control coronavirus outbreak at meat plant

A huge 92 percent of those surveyed would support stricter industry laws, according to the ZDF poll. However, only 55 percent of those questioned believed that citizens were generally prepared to spend more money on meat.

Following several outbreaks of coronavirus in meat processing plants, cheap prices for meat products in supermarkets and working conditions in industry are under massive criticism.

READ ALSO: Explained – What you need to know about Germany's new local coronavirus lockdown

Doubts over new app

The new coronavirus app has been downloaded millions of times – but according to the survey, confidence in its effectiveness is relatively low.

Only 38 percent believe that this app will make a major contribution to limiting the pandemic in Germany, the ZDF survey shows.

 Supporters of the Greens (62 percent), the FDP (70 percent) and the AfD (90 percent) are particularly critical of the app.
 

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POLITICS

Germany’s biggest companies campaign against far right parties ahead of the EU elections

Germany's biggest companies said Tuesday they have formed an alliance to campaign against extremism ahead of key EU Parliament elections, when the far right is projected to make strong gains.

Published: 7 May 2024 14:06 CEST
Germany's biggest companies campaign against far right parties ahead of the EU elections

The alliance of 30 companies includes blue-chip groups like BMW, BASF and Deutsche Bank, a well as family-owned businesses and start-ups.

“Exclusion, extremism and populism pose threats to Germany as a business location and to our prosperity,” said the alliance in a statement.

“In their first joint campaign, the companies are calling on their combined 1.7 million employees to take part in the upcoming European elections and engaging in numerous activities to highlight the importance of European unity for prosperity, growth and jobs,” it added.

The unusual action by the industrial giants came as latest opinion polls show the far-right AfD obtaining about 15 percent of the EU vote next month in Germany, tied in second place with the Greens after the conservative CDU-CSU alliance.

A series of recent scandals, including the arrest of a researcher working for an AfD MEP, have sent the party’s popularity sliding since the turn of the year, even though it remains just ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.

Already struggling with severe shortages in skilled workers, many German enterprises fear gains by the far right could further erode the attractiveness of Europe’s biggest economy to migrant labour.

READ ALSO: INTERVIEW – Why racism is prompting a skilled worker exodus from eastern Germany

The alliance estimates that fast-ageing Germany currently already has 1.73 million unfilled positions, while an additional 200,000 to 400,000 workers would be necessary annually in coming years.

bmw worker

, chief executive of the Dussmann Group, noted that 68,000 people from over 100 nations work in the family business.

“For many of them, their work with us, for example in cleaning buildings or geriatric care, is their entry into the primary labour market and therefore the key to successful integration. Hate and exclusion have no place here,” he said.

Siemens Energy chief executive Christian Bruch warned that “isolationism, extremism, and xenophobia are poison for German exports and jobs here in Germany – we must therefore not give space to the fearmongers and fall for their supposedly simple solutions”.

The alliance said it is planning a social media campaign to underline the call against extremism and urged other companies to join its initiative.

READ ALSO: A fight for the youth vote – Are German politicians social media savvy enough?

It added that the campaign will continue after the EU elections, with three eastern German states to vote for regional parliaments in September.

In all three — Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony — the far-right AfD party is leading surveys.

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