, Columnist
What Germany’s Left Parties Get Right, and So Very Wrong
It looks like Olaf Scholz will have two options to form the next German government. One would be a disaster; the other might be fine.
Move him just a tad right.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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For most of the 31 years since German reunification, it was unthinkable: the prospect that the heirs of East Germany’s communist dictatorship might return to govern the country as part of a ruling coalition.
But after stunning shifts in the polls this summer, an all-left “red-green-red” governing partnership suddenly seems the second-likeliest result after the federal election on Sept. 26. I’ll say more about the likelier outcome at the end. But I want you to understand first why this color combination should never come to pass.