On the 14th of June our experts, Dr Florian Lippert, researcher on Culture and Literature at Groningen University, Dr Pola Cebulak, European law expert from Vrije University in Amsterdam, took part in a debate entitled “Alternative for democracy? The further rise of the AfD and the future of Germany and the EU”. The role of the moderator was entrusted to Dr Piotr Kocyba, sociologist from Leipzig University. The debate held in German, was organised within the framework of the project “Protecting of European Values” co-funded by the European Commission. The debate was one of events of Kosmos Festival, a free street festival for democracy in Germany.
The debate started with welcome remarks by Adam Balcer, Program Director of College of Eastern Europe who presented the project and its outcomes. Next, the keynote speech was given by Ms Nhi Le, an award-winning journalist and author who focused on key threats to civil liberties in Germany by paying a special attention to the issue of press freedom.
The debate engaging our experts began with a discussion about the decision of Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to categorise the AfD as “definitely right-wing extremist”. That being said, the debate revolved around a new political landscape emerging in Germany but also in many other EU member states. It expresses itself mostly by a profound weakening of traditional big-tent parties and failed attempts of accommodation of far right undertaken by many mainstream politicians. The aim of the debate was to determine and analyse social, cultural and economic factors leading the AfD’s rise. The main questions addressed to the panelists were: what does the success of the AfD tell us about the state of German democracy? How does the visible shift to the right affect the freedom of expression, especially in the Eastern part of the country, where the support for the AfD is the highest? How the mainstream democratic parties should react towards the AfD? The experts were also asked to present some middle-term scenarios for the development of the political scene in Germany. The Polish and Dutch perspectives were brought into equation, as both countries experienced recently important political developments (presidential elections in Poland, fall of government in the Netherlands leading towards snap parliamentary elections respectively) and are Germany’s key neighbours.
