German election results

Official Results 

Preliminary Election Results from Der Spiegel

 

 

SPD Deflects talk of grand coalition 

Next Steps

 

Germany's Parties

 

From the Wall Street Journal

Merkel's Victory

 

From the BBC:  

Angela Merkel celebrates after German election win

 

 

More on German Elections

Polls indicate it will be a close call for Merkel's coalition:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/race-tightens-ahead-of-german-vote.html?_r=0


Election posters:


A primer on German electoral rules:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-19/how-germany-s-election-system-works-what-to-watch-for-sept-22.html

Who's who in the German Election: http://news.yahoo.com/whos-germanys-election-062013638.html

German Elections - Will the Free Democrats survive?

As Germany enters the final week of the election campaign, Bavarian state election gives the CDU/CSU a boost, but the FDP's poor showing may foreshadow national level issues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/world/europe/strong-showing-for-merkels-conservative-allies-in-bavaria.html

The Wall St. Journal focuses on the possibility of a grand coalition: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323527004579077163110377446.html



The Economist magazine endorses Merkel in advance of the September 22nd election: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21586343-german-voters-should-re-elect-angela-merkel-their-chancellorand-europes-leader-one-woman

Germany and the EU, Barroso and the Tories, Syria

Analysts find that Germany doesn't have a clear strategy for moving Europe forward through the crisis - "muddling through":
German policy on Europe lacking say some experts | euronews, world news

But Commission President Barroso finds signs of economic recovery in the latest figures:
http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/12/barroso-figures-show-start-of-economic-recovery/



Barroso had a tough exchange with the leader of the UK Conservatives in the European Parliament after his speech on the State of the European Union:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/07b0e41e-1acd-11e3-87da-00144feab7de.html

British Prime Minister David Cameron also had a few things to say about Barroso's comments regarding the Tories and UKIP:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-britain-europe-row-idUSBRE98B12D20130912

Syria remains at the top of the headlines as the U.S. and Russia begin talks in Geneva regarding the disposition of Syria's chemical weapons, and Vladimir Putin writes to the American public:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24072799


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Europe and Syria, German elections

Syria is not only an issue for the U.S. - last week Prime Minister David Cameron who supports military action in Syria lost a critical vote in the UK Parliament.  This week he is criticizing MPs who voted against taking action, pointing to evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians:
Syria crisis: David Cameron attacks MPs who opposed intervention


Syria overshadows the G20 meetings in St. Petersburg, with Russia's President Vladimir Putin opposing intervention in Syria:
Divided G20 discusses Syria crisis in St Petersburg

German Election:

To be blunt, this has to be one of the most boring elections I have seen since I started following German elections in the 1990s. However, there have been some moments of interest, as the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) try to gain some traction as the election nears:
Germany's Merkel Taunts Opponents over Euro Crisis

However, the Economist captures the "banality" of this election:
Candidates debate and Germany's election campaign plumbs new lows

Notes from the Netherlands

I spent last week in the Netherlands, attending the Conference of Europeanists.  There were many excellent panels, particularly focusing on issues related to immigration, EU integration and the current fiscal crisis.  As I noted in my previous blog post, the crisis is hitting hard in the Netherlands, as can be seen in this representative picture of the shopping district in central Amsterdam:

 Many shops, including high-end designer boutiques, were advertising sales as much as 70% off, or as in this shop, 50% off.  As noted in this report by Bloomberg, the Dutch economy is contracting as consumer spending is down, and they suffer their third recession in four years. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/dutch-economy-contracts-more-than-initially-estimated.html  The government is implementing an austerity package that will impact employment and retirees. 

On the brighter side, Amsterdam remains a beautiful city, Leaving the University of Amsterdam, I passed by the Hotel de L'Europe where the Amsterdam Treaty was signed. Being in Northern latitudes, the nights were long, but I managed to stay up late to see the lights on the canals.

 

 

At the train station, there was a diverse crowd, Amsterdam is a city of many cultures, including Indonesian -- we ate rajstafel a few times during the conference.

 

The Rijksmuseum is recently refurbished, and is a stunning display of Dutch art and history.

"Night Watch" is perhaps the most famous painting in the museum, and has it's own wall in the "Gallery of Honor"

 

I have a fondness for still life paintings -- this one was my favorite:

I also have a fondness for Dutch ceramics, and the museum had several displays of amazing artistry:

The view from the Netherlands

I'm visiting the Netherlands for the annual Conference of Europeanists. I am lucky to have a nephew who lives in Rotterdam who hosted me over the weekend, then I'm off to Amsterdam tomorrow for the conference.  The Netherlands recently celebrated the investiture of their new King Willem-Alexander after the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix.
 
The Netherlands has a reputation as a place of tolerance and a high standard of living. However, cracks have been appearing in that facade for a long time.  The Netherlands was once known as a place where multiculturalism was the rule, but the rise of politicians like Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders showed that the era of multiculturalism was at an end, as described in an article in Time magazine from 2011: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2080256,00.html


Cracks are also appearing in the Dutch standard of living. Fiscal austerity has hit the Netherlands hard, with small neighborhood businesses and homeowners often feeling the brunt of the budget cuts and loss of value in the housing market.  As noted in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal "With the euro-zone mired in its longest recession in decades, even the so-called core Northern countries are increasingly feeling the pain. ("Euro Zone Core Facing Budget Cuts")

More to come from Amsterdam later this week...