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.
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