(de-news.net) – Economists, business executives, and political figures have cautioned that electoral pressure should not postpone essential structural reforms after the Saxony-Anhalt election. They emphasized the need for credible economic and social policies and connected AfD support to dissatisfaction with the established parties’ alleged incapacity to bring about significant change. The main areas that needed to be addressed were pension reform, immigration, competitiveness, and Germany’s demographic issues.
Following the Saxony-Anhalt election, economist Veronika Grimm also called on the federal government to maintain its reform agenda rather than allowing electoral pressures to weaken its commitment to structural change. Her analysis was that the failure to deliver meaningful reforms was encouraging an increasing number of electorally persuadable voters to move toward the AfD. At the same time, she argued, a sizable portion of the electorate was developing the impression that mainstream democratic parties were no longer capable of delivering the structural changes they considered necessary. From this perspective, Grimm identified a central challenge for the political center: The greater danger was not that governments might pursue too many reforms, but that necessary measures would repeatedly be postponed because parties feared the electoral consequences of implementing them.
Grimm further argued that warnings about the AfD alone would not be sufficient to persuade politically accessible voters to return to the democratic center. Instead, she said, those voters would have to be addressed through credible solutions to the underlying problems that were shaping their political choices. She also called on economic leaders and business executives to make greater use of their influence by pressing democratic parties to pursue consistent and consequential structural reforms. In Grimm’s assessment, support for the AfD among some voters did not necessarily reflect confidence in its economic policies. Rather, it reflected a loss of confidence in the established parties’ capacity to bring about meaningful change. Political disruption could therefore appear attractive to such voters as an alternative to a political center they no longer regarded as capable of reform, even though the outcome of that choice remained uncertain.
In turn, economist Martin Werding is urging the Federal Government not to draw premature conclusions from the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, arguing that the result should not derail the broader debate over pension reform. Instead, he said, the government and Bundestag should continue their examination of the reform proposals developed by the Commission on Old-Age Security. Targeted adjustments could be made where necessary, but the overall package should not be reopened in its entirety.
Werding emphasized that Germany’s demographic pressures are expected to become fully apparent over the next decade, making reform an increasingly important issue. Against that backdrop, he also warned that an anti-immigration policy pursued by the AfD could place additional pressure on the financial foundations of the country’s social insurance system. Current projections for future pension contributions and overall social-security contributions are based on the assumption that net immigration will remain at a persistently high level.
That assumption has become more significant as actual immigration numbers have declined substantially in recent years. Werding argued that Germany’s ability to attract workers must therefore remain an important consideration as it competes internationally for mobile labor. If the country fails to clearly signal that employment-based immigration is welcome, he warned, economic growth could suffer while the financial pressures confronting the social-security system could intensify.
Business groups warn against political paralysis
Meanwhile, business organizations warned that the AfD’s electoral success could have negative economic consequences. VDMA President Kawlath described the result as concerning and said it sent a clear signal to federal policymakers that Germany needed a stable course centered on international competitiveness. BDI Chief Executive Gönner likewise warned that the election should not lead to political paralysis in Berlin. DIHK President Adrian on his part called for effective implementation by the end of the year of measures intended to strengthen the economy’s competitiveness and long-term resilience.
The president of the German Retail Federation, von Preen, also warned that policies perceived as isolationist or exclusionary could damage Germany’s standing as a destination for business and skilled workers. He specifically expressed concern that prospective skilled workers from abroad could be discouraged from coming to Germany, potentially adding to the economic risks already associated with the political uncertainty surrounding the election result.
Former Federal Minister and CDU politician Thomas de Maizière described the AfD’s performance in the Saxony-Anhalt state election as a significant political turning point, arguing that the result carried implications beyond the immediate electoral outcome. Speaking on Caren Miosga’s ARD talk show, de Maizière said the performance should prompt Germany’s democratic parties to prepare for the possibility that the AfD could eventually take power. In his assessment, such a development would represent a profound change in the country’s political system, including a drastic transformation of its cooperative federalism, while making democratic political conflict more difficult and contentious.
De Maizière argued that the AfD has developed beyond its earlier role as a vehicle for protest and dissatisfaction and has increasingly become associated with a sense of hope among part of the electorate. He linked this appeal, in part, to expectations that Germany could protect itself more effectively from problems originating beyond its borders and, alternatively, recreate an idealized or romanticized conception of the country’s past. Against this backdrop, he predicted that the AfD would ultimately provide the minister-president in Saxony-Anhalt and argued that the BSW could contribute to enabling the party to obtain political power. At the same time, he said the AfD was seeking to alter its established image as an antagonistic political force by presenting itself differently to voters. De Maizière warned that this gradual and seemingly inconspicuous shift could amount to a slow transfer of power, making the party more difficult for its democratic competitors to confront. In his view, the deliberate repositioning was politically strategic and would make future criticism and arguments against the AfD considerably more difficult.
