Germany’s reputation for predictable, consensus-driven politics is taking a serious hit. The AfD’s 43.8 per cent victory in Saxony-Anhalt more than doubled its 2021 vote and left it only three seats short of an absolute majority.

Europe thought it could buy migration security by paying authoritarian neighbours to guard its borders. The Ceuta crisis has exposed how fragile that bargain can become.

Germany’s political establishment has been hit by a result it can no longer easily contain. The AfD took just under 44 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt, leaving the CDU languishing at just over 17 per cent and putting the nationalist-populist party only three seats short of a majority.

Germany’s post-war political order has taken another heavy blow. The AfD won 43.9 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt, crushing Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU on just 17.4 per cent and coming within three seats of an outright majority.

Europe is getting older – but ageing alone is not the biggest threat to its long-term care systems. Bruegel’s study finds that the real danger is whether Europeans spend those extra years healthy or living with disabilities that require sustained care.

Germany can launch satellites into orbit, attract billions into start-ups and build cutting-edge industries – yet millions of voters still feel the country’s future has nothing to offer them. The National Interest argues that the AfD’s historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt exposes this dangerous split between a Germany reinventing itself and regions still scarred by decades of economic decline.

Germany’s political establishment is facing the result it spent years trying to prevent. The AfD’s 43.8 per cent victory in Saxony-Anhalt is not just another eastern protest – GMF sees it as a direct threat to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Germany’s post-war political order.