/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/SZZTW67LMRAMPPCKBBQMSUTFRA.JPEG?#)
-1.jpg?#)
Germany's crunch elections: Can mainstream parties blunt surging far right?
Sunday's crunch elections for Germany are coming at perhaps the most pivotal moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Back then, it was about making a success of reunification. Now comes a reckoning over the German model that ensued. Under threat is the kind of global free trade that powers Germany's export-driven economy. Instead we're seeing Donald Trump's tariffs, a Russian aggression that's inching closer in not-so-far-off Ukraine and an ageing population that needs to replenish its workforce, but doesn't want more migrants.
Sunday's crunch elections for Germany are coming at perhaps the most pivotal moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Back then, it was about making a success of reunification. Now comes a reckoning over the German model that ensued. Under threat is the kind of global free trade that powers Germany's export-driven economy. Instead we're seeing Donald Trump's tariffs, a Russian aggression that's inching closer in not-so-far-off Ukraine and an ageing population that needs to replenish its workforce, but doesn't want more migrants.
![Skeem Saam: Wednesday’s episode, 11 December 2024 [video]](http://www.thesouthafrican.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Melita.jpg.optimal.jpg?#)
