Regional parlaments in Germany have no foreign policy competence and limited influence on national energy policy. But will the results from Saxony and Thuringia influence Germany's energy transition and its support for Ukraine?
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00:00The result of two regional elections in Germany's East
00:06have sent shockwaves through Europe.
00:08That a far-right party, known for its relativism and ambiguity
00:12about Germany's Nazi past, was able to win,
00:15is being met with disbelief.
00:18The leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament, Valéry Ayer,
00:21called it unprecedented and a dark day for Germany and for Europe.
00:26The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni,
00:29posted a bitter comment on the strong result of the far-right and the populist far-left.
00:34Friends of Russia in a former USSR satellite state,
00:38enemies of migrants in the German area with little immigration,
00:42rancor against everything and everyone, tweeted Gentiloni.
00:46It is unlikely that the AfD and the far-left Sarah Wagenknecht party
00:50will turn this majority into a governing coalition,
00:53but could this strong anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian sentiment
00:57influence the German, or even the European, position on supporting Ukraine?
01:04Luckily, I must say, the lenders do not decide on foreign policy,
01:08so the support in Germany, according to all the polls we know,
01:12is quite high in support of the same cause for Europe.
01:15If you look into the numbers of young people who voted up to 40%
01:19to the extremist parties, then it is about the future
01:23and the vision we can give to them, and the hopes, of course.
01:29One of the biggest losers of both regional elections is the Green Party,
01:32part of the governing coalition in Berlin.
01:35In the ring year, they failed to get a single legislator elected.
01:39Does that spell trouble for Germany's ambitious energy transition goals?
01:43German Green MEP Michael Bloos believes that the narrative surrounding the transition
01:47should focus more on what has already been achieved,
01:50especially in Germany's east.
01:53There are different things that we need to address on the eastern part.
01:57We in Germany overall need to appreciate more what they have already done
02:01in terms of transformation, and how they have already achieved a lot.
02:07But with the political landscape changed beyond recognition
02:10and former coalitions reused to irrelevance,
02:13the newly elected legislators in Saxony and Thuringia
02:16will first have to somehow find a way of forming a government.