Introduc)on to Contemporary German and Austrian Poli)cs Sessions 3+4 Contemporary German and Austrian Poli)cs Tobias Spöri tobias.spoeri@univie.ac.at Agenda Day 1 -  The poli.cal system of Germany -  The poli.cal system of Austria -  The economic development by comparison -  Germany and Austria in the European Union Day 2 Contemporary German and Austrian Poli.cs -  Most important developments in recent years -  Parliamentary elec.ons in 2017: Campaigns, results, coali.ons 2 Seminar paper Essay / seminar paper §  3000 words (+/- 10 %) §  Deadline: April 30, 2018 §  Submit to the system §  Topics: -  The refugee issue since 2015 -  East-west differences in Germany -  Key ins.tu.ons of German and Austrian poli.cs -  The electoral campaign(s) in 2017 3 Seminar paper Essays Wri.ng style: §  Clarity trumps! §  Get rid of words that do not change the content of a sentence §  Avoid “gambling words" (obviously, probably, certainly, undoubtedly) §  Use ac.ve voice! §  Use short sentence Have a clear structure (.tle, intro, main part, conclusion) Documenta.on (give references) à You need to make reading your paper as easy as possible Ci)zens’ main concerns at European level 5Source: Eurobarometer (hZp://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm) Ci)zens’ main concerns at na)onal level 6Source: Eurobarometer (hZp://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm) Ci)zens’ concerns about immigra)on on the na)onal level in Germany 7 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 EB82 A2014 EB83 S2015 EB84 A2015 EB85 S2016 EB86 A2016 EB87 S2017 EB88 A2017 Unemployment Immigra.on Rising prices/infla.on/cost of living Pensions Government debt Economic situa.on Source: Eurobarometer (hZp://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm) Ci)zens’ concerns about immigra)on on the na)onal level in Austria 8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 EB82 A2014 EB83 S2015 EB84 A2015 EB85 S2016 EB86 A2016 EB87 S2017 EB88 A2017 Unemployment Immigra.on Rising prices/infla.on/cost of living Pensions Government debt Economic situa.on Source: Eurobarometer (hZp://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm) Number of (non-EU) asylum seekers in the EU (2015-2016, thousands of first )me applicants) 9 Share of non-na)onals in the resident popula)on, 1 January 2016 (%) 10 Persons subject of asylum applica)ons pending at the end of 2016 11 0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 700000 Germany Italy Sweden Austria France Greece UK Belgium Spain Finland Bulgaria Netherlands Denmark Ireland Hungary Cyprus Poland Luxembourg Malta Romania Czech Republic Croa.a Slovenia Latvia Lithuania Slovakia Estonia Portugal Source: Eurostat (hZp://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/de) §  4 September 2015: Austria (Faymann) and Germany (Merkel) announce that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany. §  14 September 2015: Austria (following Germany) ins.tuted border controls (Austrian Army) of its own at the border with Hungary. §  28 October 2015: Austria decided to build a fence along its border with Slovenia (91 km) to "be able to control the migrants in an orderly manner” (Minister of the Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner) à  Snow-ball effect leading to the official closure of the Western Balkan route §  20 January 2016: Austria announced it would limit the number of asylum applicants to 37,500 in each of the next four years §  19 February 2016: Austria started pulng a daily cap of 80 asylum seekers allowed to enter the country to apply for Austrian asylum Poli)cal Responses in Austria and Germany §  New year’s eve in Cologne (2015) as the .pping point? Polariza)on of the immigra)on issue §  Welcome culture vs. cultural protec.on? Polariza)on §  Grass roots associa.ons star.ng in August 2015 (-December 2015) §  Since October 2015: officially registered associa.on §  Aim: “welcoming refugees in a human, non-bureaucra.c and open-minded way” §  Volunteers providing refugees with food, cloths, informa.on, WIFI and medical support at Vienna central railway sta.on, Westbahnhof, (later from Nickelsdorf – Salzburg) §  Selng-up infrastructure needed (with other NGOs and Austrian Federal Railways) §  Future projects on integra.on planned à  Private ini.a.ve replacing public authori.es 15 Example I: Train of Hope Vienna §  Patrio.c Europeans Against the Islamisa.on of the Occident §  German na.onalist, an.-Islam, far-right poli.cal movement §  Founded in Dresden in October 2014 §  Against immigra.on and Lügenpresse (lying press) §  Accuse authori.es of not enforcing exis.ng laws §  Links to NPD, AFD and Liberal Direct Democra.c People's Party (founded in June 2016) §  Par.cipants from the right-wing sector, hooligans and concerned ci.zens §  Mo.va.on: dissa.sfac.on with the poli.cal situa.on (54%), "Islam, Islamism and Islamisa.on” (23%), cri.cism of the media and the public (20%), and reserva.ons regarding asylum seekers and migrants (15%) §  Male-dominated group with a rela.vely high level of educa.on à  Channelling general disappointment based on social insecurity and xenophobic altudes 16 Example II: Pegida The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria First round: April 24, 2016 17 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria First round: April 24, 2016 à Turnout 68,8 % à Chancellor Faymann steps back 18 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria 19 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria Second round: May 22, 2016 à  Turnout 72,25 % But: Cons.tu.onal courts annuls the elec.on à Viola.on of the electoral law (postal ballot) 20 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria 21 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria Second round (2): October 16, 2016 But: issue with postal vo.ng à  Envelops defect à  Postpone the elec.on 22 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria Second round (3): December 4, 2016 à Turnout 74,21 % 23 The presiden)al “vo)ng marathon” in Austria 24 Parliamentary elec)on in Germany in 2017 25 AFD spot hZps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRoHZ-QKwhk 26 The result of the German elec)on in 2017 27 The result of the German elec)on in 2017 §  “Boring” elec.on campaign §  One TV debate between the main candidates (from the governing par.es) §  AFD tries to be provoca.ve + vic.misa.on à  Great challenge to the established par.es 28 The result of the German elec)on in 2017 29 The result of the German elec)on in 2017 30 The 2017 elec)on in Germany (Bundestag, seats) 31 CDU/CSU, 246 SPD, 153 FDP, 80 GREENS, 67 LINKE, 69 AFD, 92 Coali)on forma)on Two coali.on op.ons: §  Jamaica (CDU/CSU, FDP, Greens): 393/709 §  Grand coali.on: 399/709 §  Eve of the elec.on: SPD à opposi.on §  October 2017: Jamaica coali.on starts to nego.ate à  FDP quits the talks axer four weeks (November 19, 2017) §  Minority government vs. GroKo vs. new elec.ons? à SPD again wants to be in opposi.on à  President Steinmeier talks to the par.es 32 Coali)on forma)on §  January 12, 2018: GroKo pre-talks successful §  January 21, 2018: SPD party congress approves official nego.a.ons (56,5%) §  February 7, 2018: coali.on agreement finally nego.ated §  February 26, 2018: CDU approves the GroKo on a party congress (97%) §  March 4, 2018: SPD members approve the agreement (66 %) 33 Agenda of the new government CDU Six ministries: economy, defence, health, chancellery, educa.on, agriculture CSU Three ministries: interior (+ homeland), infrastructure, development SPD Foreign affairs, finance, labour and social, jus.ce, family, environment Outcome: to be seen 34 Parliamentary elec)on in Austria in 2017 35 Parliamentary elec)on in Austria in 2017 36 FPÖ spot hZps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nCOaE4XMbY hZps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHRAyBZYwo 37 The result of the Austrian elec)on in 2017 38 The result of the Austrian elec)on in 2017 §  Very controversial elec.on campaign §  More than 100 TV debate between the main candidates §  ÖVP successfully occupies the FPÖ’s core issues §  FPÖ: populism + vic.misa.on §  SPÖ fights an uphill baZle and performs badly in the campaign (Silverstein affair) 39 The result of the Austrian elec)on in 2017 40 The result of the Austrian elec)on in 2017 41 The 2017 elec)on in Austria (Na)onalrat, seats) 42 ÖVP, 62 SPÖ, 52 FPÖ, 51 NEOS, 10 PILZ, 08 Coali)on forma)on §  Nego.a.on talks between ÖVP and FPÖ §  Started on October 25, 2017 à finished before Christmas §  Sworn in January 13, 2018 43 A sid to the right §  40 % of the FPÖ MPs are from fraterni.es à  Many newly employed in the ministries are from fraterni.es/right wing groups §  “Germania song book” affair §  Kickl: “concentra.on of migrants” §  AZacking public broadcas.ng 44 Agenda of the new government §  Symbolic poli.cs: change of the cons.tu.on §  “Die Republik Österreich bekennt sich zu einem weZbewerbsfähigen Wirtschaxsstandort, als Voraussetzung für Wachstum und Beschäxigung.” §  Weaker state in economic terms but law and order (police, border protec.on) à  Deregula.on §  Against minori.es (refugees) §  Social benefits for the well-off part of the society §  Ambivalent rela.onship to CEE countries 45