Emily Schultheis

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Is Berlin Ready to Break the Bank?

EuropaUnión EuropeaEconomía

In 2017, when Wolfgang Schäuble left his post as the German finance minister to become president of the country’s parliament, hundreds of ministry employees took a group photo to mark his departure. Standing in the ministry’s courtyard and dressed in black jackets, they formed a giant circle, a zero symbol, to honor the man seen as the face of German austerity measures. The “black zero”, or schwarze Null, is a reference to the requirement for balanced budgets enshrined in the German Constitution since 2009: Barring extraordinary circumstances, the Schuldenbremse, or “debt brake”, forbids the German government from taking on additional debts and limits Germany’s structural deficit to no more than 0.35 percent of annual GDP.…  Seguir leyendo »

A rally by the right-wing party Alternative for Germany last year. The German experience suggests that democracies must establish defenses against internal extremist threats. Credit Jens Schlueter/EPA, via Shutterstock

EuropaUnión Europea, ,

Should a government agency put a democratically elected political party under surveillance if the party is feared to be a threat to the democratic order?

This question is the subject of fierce debate and a legal battle here. Late last month, the German media reported that the domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, was poised to declare the far-right Alternative for Germany party a “suspected case” of antidemocratic extremist activity. The party’s anti-immigrant and anti-Islam talk has emboldened far-right extremists, and some of its officials have ties to extremist groups.

The “suspected case” designation would give the intelligence service broad powers to surveil the party’s politicians and staff members, including tapping their phones and monitoring their movements.…  Seguir leyendo »

Angela Merkel at a cabinet meeting last week. Credit Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

EuropaUnión Europea,

The day after the British Parliament voted down a deal on Brexit, with political instability dominating international headlines, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany sat down for a 45-minute interview with a journalist from the German newspaper Die Zeit.

They didn’t talk about Britain, however, or the future of Europe or even really about German politics. Instead, Ms. Merkel gave a rare and candid account of her experience as a female politician, her thoughts on feminism and how she has been shaped by her gender. It was her first time broaching the topic at such length in more than 13 years as chancellor.…  Seguir leyendo »