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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/21\/opinion\/germany-elections-afd-merz.html?utm_source=cnn_Global+Briefing&utm_medium=email",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTOpinionSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTGuest EssayGermans Are in Shock. But We Can Get Out of This Mess.Sept. 21, 2026Credit...Stefan Boness\/Visum, via ReduxListen \u00b7 6:39 min Share full articleBy Anna SauerbreyMs. Sauerbrey is a German journalist who writes about Germany\u2019s politics, society and culture. She wrote from Berlin.See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google So here we are.The election season Germany had anticipated with such anxiety is finally over. In the past weeks, Germans have voted in three regional contests. In all three states, the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, has seen huge gains. In Saxony-Anhalt, it will most likely govern, for the first time ever. In Berlin, a progressive bastion, it scored strongly. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it came out on top \u2014 a victory tempered only by the relatively successful showing of the Social Democrats.The results have sent shock waves through the country. Today, the air is filled with a familiar chant: The center cannot hold, the far right is on the rise, democracy is at risk. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the target of much anger and desperation, is under fire. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, his party didn\u2019t even make it into Parliament. On Sunday, minutes after the first projections had been published, he took the stage in a bold move and declared his determination to stay in power and move on. Will his party let him? That is still unclear. For now, it is simply in turmoil.Germany is in trouble, undoubtedly. The AfD is a dangerous party, whose leaders spew hatred against minorities, uphold an ethnonationalist ideology and cozy up to Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia. But we should not give in to gloom. There is still time to turn things around.Germany is not the run-down, morally and economically bankrupt country the AfD portrays it to be. But it is facing huge challenges. Its export business model is no longer working, it has fallen behind on innovation, and its famous car industry is on its knees. The climate is getting out of control: Rivers are running dry, elderly people are dying in sweltering conditions, and cities are struggling to function in the heat. The country is also aging rapidly and, for all the scapegoating of migrants, needs more, not less, immigration to fill up the job market.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAll of these problems will require big reforms. Mr. Merz\u2019s government made a start \u2014 on pension reform, for example \u2014 before getting stuck. How do you go about transforming an aging society that is deeply skeptical of change, with the far right breathing down your neck? I don\u2019t claim to have the solution; much smarter people have failed to find an all-inclusive answer. But here\u2019s what I think could help get us out of this mess.Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox.First, stop whining and show some courage. Voters will not believe you if you don\u2019t believe in yourself. It has been 10 years now since President Trump first came to power and Britons voted for Brexit, giving rise to endless soul-searching and infighting among centrists and progressives over the root causes of the right\u2019s success. Everything has been said, over and over again. It\u2019s time to stop taking such forces as the most important point of reference. The center should focus on what it deems correct and ignore the far right.Second, look to the future. It is true that change comes at a cost. Energy prices in Germany have risen as the grid is preparing for a noncarbon future, for example. But mainstream parties have spent too much time apologizing for the cost and too little time highlighting the benefits to come. Renewable energy is a lot cheaper in the long run, and Germany will be a lot less dependent on Russia and on there being peace in the Middle East. Parties should highlight the long-term advantages of all sorts of reforms, from housing to the pension system.Third, and most important, go local. On the national level, progress is often slow and hard to see; globally, most countries are relatively powerless. Locally, however, things can be changed a lot faster. That\u2019s no bad thing: After all, people live in their communities, in towns, villages and neighborhoods. This is where they truly experience politics. It\u2019s where they actually encounter abstract things such as \u201cglobalization,\u201d \u201cmass migration\u201d and \u201cthe state,\u201d in the form of child care or waste management.Germany\u2019s villages and towns need serious attention. In rural areas, villages are dying because the young move away. The local bakery and butcher\u2019s shop have long closed, as have many pubs and inns. Inner cities, too, are drained of life and amenities by online consumption and high rents. Many of the downsides of the mass immigration of the past 10 years are felt locally, too: Schools must educate children who do not speak German, and immigrants who don\u2019t yet have jobs strain welfare budgets.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThese problems are not insuperable. Take climate adaptation. Towns and cities will have to organize cooling rooms, plant trees, construct green roofs and buildings and design parks and gardens that can absorb heavy rains. They\u2019ll have to make it easier to ride bikes or e-scooters, build charging stations and improve public transport. That\u2019s just one example. There are myriad changes that can improve civic life, from extending preschool to regulating the rental market.This is a lot easier said than done, I know. Many of Germany\u2019s municipalities are broke. In the region I\u2019m from, a deindustrializing former steel-producing and coal-mining area in the northwest, cities like Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg have to spend a significant portion of their budgets on servicing debt and paying welfare benefits. They lack the money to plant trees or hire more social workers to help immigrant children in school.Still, a lot can be achieved. The government should make it easier for money from its large climate and transformation fund to flow to deprived communities. Federal money also needs to be handed down for housing and education. The government could play a convening role, too, bringing together mayors to exchange ideas and providing expertise. It could also think more creatively. Why not buy up empty real estate in inner cities and set it up as cooling rooms during the summer and low-cost cafes the rest of the year? And wherever something works or has been improved, talk about it \u2014 relentlessly.All of this works, however, only when you have confidence in yourself and in shaping the future without fear. It\u2019s time to defend some big ideas again: multiethnic societies, open markets, climate transformation and social justice. The AfD gains much of its charge by reviling \u201cthe system.\u201d Centrists and progressives must show voters that politics works where it matters most: at home. That may not save Mr. Merz\u2019s job, but it could spare the country from a far worse fate.Anna Sauerbrey is an editor and writer at the German weekly Die Zeit.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We\u2019d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here\u2019s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-21T15:17:49+00:00",
    "author_name": "Anna Sauerbrey",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
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    "ai_headline": "Germans Are in Shock. But We Can Get Out of This Mess.",
    "ai_simplified_title": "German Journalist Analyzes Far-Right Gains in Germany, Offers Solutions",
    "ai_excerpt": "A German journalist reflects on the recent surge of the far-right AfD party in regional elections, causing shockwaves across Germany. She argues against despair, proposing solutions focused on courage, future-oriented policies, and local action to counter the far-right's rise.",
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