According to Euronews's latest Superpoll in April, Germany's far-right party AfD is polling in second place for the European elections next month. Is the current government doing enough to counteract the threat from the far right?
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00:00According to Euronews' latest super poll in April, Germany's far-right party AfD are polling in second place for the European elections next month.
00:08Social Democrats from Germany and Europe held a democracy congress in Berlin on Saturday, where they promised not to collaborate with far-right parties.
00:16But is the current government doing enough to counteract the threat from the far-right?
00:21At least they are now acknowledging what threat the far-right proposes to democracy and the people living in Germany.
00:30But of course a lot of mistakes were made in the past by not fully acting upon right-wing extremism,
00:41especially concerning the juridical branch, a lot of crimes that have remained unpunished,
00:52and that of course leads to a new self-consciousness of the far-right,
00:57because if people are not punished for their crimes, they can repeat them and they feel in a way empowered.
01:03Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands gathered across major cities in Germany to protest against the far-right.
01:10Many fear that the AfD would change the constitution, curriculum and introduce new laws at the very minimum.
01:29The AfD denies it is behind these attacks and also condemned violence.
01:35Those who say they'll vote for AfD say we need a change in politics, that many of the parties, including CDU and SPD, are the same.
01:43But promising not to cooperate with far-right parties is only one piece of the puzzle.
01:48Mainstream political parties need to start listening to households who are swamped by spiralling costs,
01:54causing many to express their discontent by casting protest votes.
01:59Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.
02:04Euronews.com