BILD, Germany's Largest Tabloid, Declares The Gov't, Not the Protesters, the Problem

Signs and wonders of changin' times?

As always, translation and emphases mine, as are the bottom lines.

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The Ampel is the Problem, Not the Protesters

By Jan W. Schäfer, Op-Ed, Bild Zeitung, 15 Jan. 2024 [source]

Things are shifting in Germany! For days, top politicians from the Ampel [fed. gov’t] parties have been warning that the protests against the government are being infiltrated by right-wing radicals with fantasies of overthrowing the gov’t. Even the Chancellor is now tooting this horn.

That is dangerous—because the vast majority of dissatisfied people are being vilified across the board.

As if farmers, craftsmen, and lorry drivers are too stupid to form their own opinions. As if they were compliant henchmen of extremists.

Obviously, many Ampel politicians still haven't got the message: It is not the demonstrators who are the problem, but they themselves.

Millions of German citizens are deeply disappointed with the government. They are frustrated by the constant red-green-yellow bungling and are demanding changes: because they are democrats—and not Nazis.

The coalition government should not forget: they are there for the citizens—and not the other way round.

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Bottom Lines

Things are, indeed, shifting, it would seem.

Note, though, that I doubt that a snap election is in the making or even on the table; polling data suggests that all gov’t parties stand to loose too much, with the FDP risking to fail to pass the 4-5% threshold to regain entry into the Bundestag.

This also means that even if Mr. Scholz gets the boot (and perhaps falls upwards to become, e.g., NATO’s new clown), the Ampel gov’t will continue until it ends. Sure, one way or the other, but they won’t cave on anything substantial.

Still, BILD is Germany’s largest tabloid, and while the above brief text is an op-ed, it is, I’d argue, as indicative of the ‘overly dynamic’ situation as the fact that Olaf Scholz, like President Brandon, was booed by the audience when he joined the handball championship match vs. Macedonia:

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