• 0 Posts
  • 49 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: April 9th, 2024
  • Bonifratz@lemm.eetoWorld News@lemmy.world•Germany's Merz falls short of majority in vote for chancellorEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    Technically, there’s a two-week period during which he or others can try to be elected by absolute majority (316 of 630 votes). After that, the requirements would be lowered to simple majority.

    So Merz may still be elected in a second vote. If he fails again, we will likely see a snap election, with the extremist right AfD gaining even more.

    A big danger about a second vote could be the AfD voting for Merz for troll reasons. They’ve done this kind of thing before in the state parliament of Thuringia. If Merz got, say, 461 votes in a second vote, it would be obvious that he got the majority not from SPD + Union but by the votes of the AfD. This would trigger massive debates about whether the coalition partners should go ahead with government formation or not.

    Another possibility is that of a different coalition forming, either Union + SPD + Greens (so including the Greens in the current planned coalition), or Union + AfD. While I could see the former happening in some scenarios (though probably with a different candidate from the Union), I think the latter will not occur at this point in time, as too many Union members and voters are still strictly opposed to cooperating with the AfD. (But I think it is a realistic scenario in future elections.)

  • Bonifratz@lemm.eetopolitics @lemmy.world•The Trump administration is detaining and deporting legal U.S. tourists and residents
    16·
    4 months ago

    I do some volunteer work in a non-profit that operates globally. We hold an annual team meetup in changing locations. In the past few years we did Canada and several European cities. For a while now, the plan had been to hold 2025’s meetup in the US as we have several team members from there. But as it stands, we’ll choose a different location because too many team members have said they’re not comfortable travelling to the US under the current administration.

    We’re talking some 20-30 people not travelling to the US and spending money there. Obviously a small number but as you said, it adds up.

  • Bonifratz@lemm.eetoWorld News@lemmy.world•European leaders show support for Zelenskiy after Trump clashEnglish
    26·
    4 months ago

    I’m convinced these events will permanently change the role of the US in the world. I checked all of Germany’s major newspapers (progressive and conservative) and they all agree that Europe can’t rely on the US anymore and will have to fend for itself and/or find new partners. I don’t doubt it’s the same in other major European countries. This might well be the start of the end of US hegemony. I sure hope that whatever new world order we move into isn’t worse than the one we had, and that the changes go over without additional war.