Media: German chancellor faces growing political pressure amid economic challenges

Germany is finally emerging from the first stage of economic grief: denial.

After years of turning a blind eye to what the rest of the world could plainly see, Germans are slowly coming to terms with the reality that they are in deep trouble as the four horsemen of their economic apocalypse come into view: an exodus of major industry; a rapidly worsening demographic picture; crumbling infrastructure; and a dearth of innovation, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media. 

Recent public opinion polls indicate that economic issues have already become the second most important concern for voters, surpassed only by the topic of migration. With an industrial base rooted in 19th-century technologies such as chemicals and machinery and a massive digital deficit, Germany is increasingly finding it difficult to compete.

For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, more humiliation looms in the form of another potential far-right win in an eastern regional election, this time in his home state of Brandenburg. Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has ruled in Brandenburg since Germany’s reunification. But polls show the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party leading there.

If the far right wins again in the East, as it did in Thuringia earlier this month, it would amount to another repudiation of Scholz’s leadership, heightening speculation that his weakened coalition won’t last until the next federal election scheduled a year from now.

By Naila Huseynova