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| Need to Catch Up on the German Election? Here’s a Guide | Need to Catch Up on the German Election? Here’s a Guide |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| This will be updated throughout the election. | This will be updated throughout the election. |
| Germans will head to the polls on Sept. 24, following a year of dramatic elections in Europe. The Netherlands, France, and Britain all held big, noisy votes that underscored the political volatility now infusing politics across the European Union. The German vote is effectively a referendum on Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is running for a fourth term. It is also critical because of Germany’s role as the economic and political leader of the Continent. | Germans will head to the polls on Sept. 24, following a year of dramatic elections in Europe. The Netherlands, France, and Britain all held big, noisy votes that underscored the political volatility now infusing politics across the European Union. The German vote is effectively a referendum on Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is running for a fourth term. It is also critical because of Germany’s role as the economic and political leader of the Continent. |
| What follows is a guide to New York Times coverage of Ms. Merkel, Germany and Europe that can help you catch up on the election and the issues that have been roiling the region. | What follows is a guide to New York Times coverage of Ms. Merkel, Germany and Europe that can help you catch up on the election and the issues that have been roiling the region. |
| If you have time only for a few articles, start with this one by Melissa Eddy, our correspondent in Berlin. “Blunting the Far Right, Merkel Gains as German Election Nears” (Sept. 1) explains how Ms. Merkel has taken back the big issue that had animated her opponents on the far right: immigration. | If you have time only for a few articles, start with this one by Melissa Eddy, our correspondent in Berlin. “Blunting the Far Right, Merkel Gains as German Election Nears” (Sept. 1) explains how Ms. Merkel has taken back the big issue that had animated her opponents on the far right: immigration. |
| Last Sunday, Ms. Merkel and her main rival, Martin Schulz of the center-left Social Democrats, clashed over Turkey and refugee policies in their only televised debate. | Last Sunday, Ms. Merkel and her main rival, Martin Schulz of the center-left Social Democrats, clashed over Turkey and refugee policies in their only televised debate. |
| Ms. Merkel’s decision two years ago to throw open Germany’s doors to those seeking political asylum remains a vulnerable point for her. While stressing in her stump speech that 2015 must remain an exception, she has praised communities like Weimar, which Ms. Eddy and Rick Lyman, our Warsaw bureau chief, followed for months to learn how Germans and Syrians have adapted. | Ms. Merkel’s decision two years ago to throw open Germany’s doors to those seeking political asylum remains a vulnerable point for her. While stressing in her stump speech that 2015 must remain an exception, she has praised communities like Weimar, which Ms. Eddy and Rick Lyman, our Warsaw bureau chief, followed for months to learn how Germans and Syrians have adapted. |
| Jochen Bittner, political editor for the German weekly Die Zeit and a contributing Op-Ed writer for The Times, offered his take on why this election is not making as big a splash as its predecessors this year in Europe. He describes “mass resignation” among an electorate that has “accepted the fact that the country’s national politics are locked in place by a centrist consensus that gives them little choice at the ballot box.” This campaign presents two paradoxes about German politics, Mr. Bittner writes: | Jochen Bittner, political editor for the German weekly Die Zeit and a contributing Op-Ed writer for The Times, offered his take on why this election is not making as big a splash as its predecessors this year in Europe. He describes “mass resignation” among an electorate that has “accepted the fact that the country’s national politics are locked in place by a centrist consensus that gives them little choice at the ballot box.” This campaign presents two paradoxes about German politics, Mr. Bittner writes: |
| You can find Melissa Eddy’s latest stories here, and follow her on Twitter. Jochen Bittner’s opinion pieces are here, and you can follow him on Twitter as well (tweets are mostly in German). | You can find Melissa Eddy’s latest stories here, and follow her on Twitter. Jochen Bittner’s opinion pieces are here, and you can follow him on Twitter as well (tweets are mostly in German). |
| Ms. Merkel is widely expected to win. Her re-election would reinforce her position as a powerful counterpart to President Trump in the United States and President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia. | Ms. Merkel is widely expected to win. Her re-election would reinforce her position as a powerful counterpart to President Trump in the United States and President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia. |
| After Mr. Trump’s victory last year, Ms. Merkel emerged as the “last powerful defender of Europe and the trans-Atlantic alliance,” wrote Alison Smale and Steven Erlanger, then the Times bureau chiefs for Berlin and London. | After Mr. Trump’s victory last year, Ms. Merkel emerged as the “last powerful defender of Europe and the trans-Atlantic alliance,” wrote Alison Smale and Steven Erlanger, then the Times bureau chiefs for Berlin and London. |
| Ms. Smale and Glenn Thrush, a White House correspondent for The Times, took a look at Ms. Merkel and Mr. Trump, two powerful leaders “estranged by widely diverging temperaments, worldviews, leadership styles and visions of Europe.” Ms. Merkel — who, in more than 11 years in power, has “proved uncommonly adept at solving the puzzle-box challenges posed by the world’s most unpredictable leaders” — may realize there isn’t a method with Mr. Trump, they wrote. | Ms. Smale and Glenn Thrush, a White House correspondent for The Times, took a look at Ms. Merkel and Mr. Trump, two powerful leaders “estranged by widely diverging temperaments, worldviews, leadership styles and visions of Europe.” Ms. Merkel — who, in more than 11 years in power, has “proved uncommonly adept at solving the puzzle-box challenges posed by the world’s most unpredictable leaders” — may realize there isn’t a method with Mr. Trump, they wrote. |
| To understand Ms. Merkel’s relationship with Mr. Putin, don’t miss this in-depth piece on their rivalry of history, distrust and power (Mar. 12) by Ms. Smale and Andrew Higgins, a Moscow correspondent: | To understand Ms. Merkel’s relationship with Mr. Putin, don’t miss this in-depth piece on their rivalry of history, distrust and power (Mar. 12) by Ms. Smale and Andrew Higgins, a Moscow correspondent: |
| That piece also includes a nugget about talks between the two leaders in 2007: Mr. Putin let his large black Labrador into their meeting room, even though the Kremlin had been told that Ms. Merkel was uneasy around dogs. | That piece also includes a nugget about talks between the two leaders in 2007: Mr. Putin let his large black Labrador into their meeting room, even though the Kremlin had been told that Ms. Merkel was uneasy around dogs. |
| Ms. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, is widely expected to win, leaving the Social Democrats in second place. But there is a close race for third among the smaller parties to build a coalition government. | Ms. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, is widely expected to win, leaving the Social Democrats in second place. But there is a close race for third among the smaller parties to build a coalition government. |
| The Left, the Greens, the pro-business Free Democratic Party and the nationalist, populist Alternative for Germany are all polling just below 10 percent, meaning there may be four smaller parties in the next Parliament. Such a constellation would open the possibility for a different governing coalition, depending on whether the center-left Social Democrats, or the center-right Christian Democratic Union — who vote as a bloc with their Bavaria-only partners, the Christian Social Union — emerge as the strongest force. | |
| “There are no natural coalitions,” Ms. Merkel said in a radio interview with Deutschlandfunk on Aug. 14. “Everyone is now fighting for themselves.” | “There are no natural coalitions,” Ms. Merkel said in a radio interview with Deutschlandfunk on Aug. 14. “Everyone is now fighting for themselves.” |
| The outcome may not be a surprise, but any election brings forward important issues. Germans are focused on immigration, potential hacking attacks and leaks, and the rise of far-right nationalist movements such as the Alternative for Germany party, which formed in 2013. | The outcome may not be a surprise, but any election brings forward important issues. Germans are focused on immigration, potential hacking attacks and leaks, and the rise of far-right nationalist movements such as the Alternative for Germany party, which formed in 2013. |
| Jim Rutenberg, our media columnist, wrote recently from Berlin about the potential release of a trove of political secrets that hackers have gathered over the past couple of years, including in a 2015 attack on the German Parliament, and how journalists might cover such a leak. | Jim Rutenberg, our media columnist, wrote recently from Berlin about the potential release of a trove of political secrets that hackers have gathered over the past couple of years, including in a 2015 attack on the German Parliament, and how journalists might cover such a leak. |
| He spoke to editors at the German magazine Der Spiegel, as well as Bild, Germany’s largest newspaper. | He spoke to editors at the German magazine Der Spiegel, as well as Bild, Germany’s largest newspaper. |
| “Hackers Came, but the French Were Prepared” (May 9) is a good exploration of how French news outlets and politicians handled that leak just hours before a legal ban on election reporting went into effect. | “Hackers Came, but the French Were Prepared” (May 9) is a good exploration of how French news outlets and politicians handled that leak just hours before a legal ban on election reporting went into effect. |
| Early this year, Amanda Taub, one of the two writers of The Interpreter, a column and newsletter, visited Germany to better understand how far-right populism has taken root across much of Europe. Read about Buch, “a cozy, safe neighborhood” that is emblematic of the forces “threatening to upend Western politics as we know it,” and delve into how Germany’s taboos, once a bulwark against the far right, may now be enabling it. | Early this year, Amanda Taub, one of the two writers of The Interpreter, a column and newsletter, visited Germany to better understand how far-right populism has taken root across much of Europe. Read about Buch, “a cozy, safe neighborhood” that is emblematic of the forces “threatening to upend Western politics as we know it,” and delve into how Germany’s taboos, once a bulwark against the far right, may now be enabling it. |
| You can subscribe to the Interpreter newsletter and follow Amanda Taub and her Interpreter counterpart, Max Fisher, on Twitter. | You can subscribe to the Interpreter newsletter and follow Amanda Taub and her Interpreter counterpart, Max Fisher, on Twitter. |
| If you have time for a longer read, you can’t do much better than “The New Europeans,” a Times Magazine article by James Angelos, a writer based in Berlin and the author of “The Full Catastrophe: Travels Among the New Greek Ruins.” Mr. Angelos traveled to Siegsdorf, in southwestern Bavaria, last year to see how the village is grappling with the influx of refugees placed there — and with the question of what it means to be German. | If you have time for a longer read, you can’t do much better than “The New Europeans,” a Times Magazine article by James Angelos, a writer based in Berlin and the author of “The Full Catastrophe: Travels Among the New Greek Ruins.” Mr. Angelos traveled to Siegsdorf, in southwestern Bavaria, last year to see how the village is grappling with the influx of refugees placed there — and with the question of what it means to be German. |
| A good place to start pondering the issues facing Europe as a whole is “The Questions That Could Reshape a Worried Europe in 2017” (Jan. 28). Among them: Will Turkey turn away from Europe? Will the United States stand with Europe? Will nationalists triumph elsewhere? | A good place to start pondering the issues facing Europe as a whole is “The Questions That Could Reshape a Worried Europe in 2017” (Jan. 28). Among them: Will Turkey turn away from Europe? Will the United States stand with Europe? Will nationalists triumph elsewhere? |
| The Interpreter offers a great overview in Uncertainty, More Than Populism, Is New Normal in Western Politics (June 10). “Everyone knows that populism has fundamentally altered the rules of Western politics,” Mr. Fisher and Ms. Taub write. “But no one has deduced what the new rules are.” | The Interpreter offers a great overview in Uncertainty, More Than Populism, Is New Normal in Western Politics (June 10). “Everyone knows that populism has fundamentally altered the rules of Western politics,” Mr. Fisher and Ms. Taub write. “But no one has deduced what the new rules are.” |
| If you haven’t yet listened to The Daily, The Times’s audio news report with Michael Barbaro, start with this episode. Mr. Barbaro talked with Ms. Taub and Mr. Fisher about the perception — and reality — of the far right’s rise across the Continent and what is driving that change. | If you haven’t yet listened to The Daily, The Times’s audio news report with Michael Barbaro, start with this episode. Mr. Barbaro talked with Ms. Taub and Mr. Fisher about the perception — and reality — of the far right’s rise across the Continent and what is driving that change. |
| And finally, don’t miss these four visual pieces illustrating some of the important issues Europe is currently facing, including a string of terrorist attacks, the weakening of the European Union and the rise of the far right: | And finally, don’t miss these four visual pieces illustrating some of the important issues Europe is currently facing, including a string of terrorist attacks, the weakening of the European Union and the rise of the far right: |