The post-Merkel Germany and the Eastern Partnership: 5 Take-aways from Germany’s parliamentary elections
Bidzina Lebanidze[1]
On September 26, 2021, national elections took place in Germany. The election results were close, with the German Social Democrats (SPD) emerging with a slight lead (25.8%) over Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) (24.1%). The Greens (14.6%) finished in third place, followed by the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) (11.5%) and the far-right AFD (10.6%) (Figure 1).
The elections signal that Angela Merkel’s 16-year-long era is drawing to a close; a new government and chancellor will soon take over to guide Germany and the EU through these turbulent times. German elections matter a lot for the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries too. Germany significantly shapes EU policies towards Russia and has a significant impact on the Union’s enlargement and neighborhood policies.
Below, we have outlined five take-aways from the German elections which matter most for Georgia and other EaP countries.
Figure 1: German Election Results; Retrieved from Politico.eu https://www.politico.eu/article/german-election-2021-results-live-blog/
