• Germany, all the numbers of the elections

  • Greta Thunberg in Berlin: "Germany's climate rogue"

  • Germany: TV duel, sparks over China, Baerbock for a hard line

  • Germany, three candidates vying for post-Merkel

  • Germany on Sunday to vote, all possible coalitions

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September 25, 2021Germany goes to vote in federal elections. For the first time in sixteen years, Angela Merkel will not be on the field, leaving her post as chancellor as one of the longest-serving leaders and 'heavyweight' in global politics, with a legacy marked by a series of crises and challenges.



In the 16 years at the helm of the largest European economy, he has, among other things, put an end to compulsory military service, launched the country towards a future without nuclear energy and the use of fossil fuels, legalized weddings for all people, introduced a minimum wage and measures to encourage fathers to devote themselves to childcare.



Before being elected for the first time in 2005, she campaigned as "chancellor of change, to make Germany more modern" between economic reforms and a more liberal social approach than that adopted up to then by the CDU. But then she embraced an approach that she herself defined "of many small steps"



"Change" is a word that also bounces in the last "long distance" duels between the challengers in the race for the chancellery. Social Democrat Olaf Scholz in Cologne, Green leader Annalena Baerbock in Duesseldorf, Cdu / Csu candidate Armin Laschet in Munich. This while in the streets of Berlin yesterday up to 100,000 people marched under the banner of "Fridays For Future", with the global leader of the movement, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who called Germany "a climate rogue".





Both Scholz and, of course, Baerbock, made the fight against 'climate change' the central topic of their final rally. Laschet, on the other hand, has called Angela Merkel to his side, who has returned to invite the Germans to vote for the CDU / CSU union as the representative of the values ​​of "measure and center". It is the conservatives, said the chancellor, who "build bridges when there are problems", and that is why they "have to lead the next government". And again: "We must simply say that to keep the country stable, Laschet must become chancellor and the CDU / Csu must be the first force", reiterated the former 'girl from the east'. The candidate chancellor has raised the risk of "serious damage to the country"in the case of a 'red-red-green' government, that is, made up of the SPD, Verdi and Linke, the party of the radical left.





Different tones in Cologne, where the Social Democratic candidate said: "The young people who march in the streets are right: the climate crisis exists. It is a catastrophe. We must act now. And the Social Democrats will do it, they will act", exclaimed Scholz . "Next year we will close the last nuclear power plant", added the current Minister of Finance, "because nuclear power continues to be a very dangerous technology. We are happy that we are getting out of it". And again: "If we manage to implement the transition to a climate neutral industry it will be the greatest industrial modernization we have seen in 100 years". For the rest, Scholz mainly addressed the German middle class,promising stable pensions and accusing CDU / CSU and Christian Lindner's liberals "of not knowing how to count and lack of solidarity".





Baerbock also spoke of climate: "In these elections, everything is at stake. This vote is a climate vote", he beat the iron at the final meeting of the Greens in Duesseldorf. "We can no longer afford to do things halfway". And referring to the boys marching with Greta Thunberg, Baerbock reiterated what the young people repeated in the square: "Act at last, stop chatting". What is needed, continued the leader of the Greens, "is a government of the climate". What needs to be done to combat global warming, "it is clear", insists the leader of the Greens: "Germany must get out of coal by 2030 at the latest, allow only the circulation of 'clean cars' and install solar energy systems on all houses.We do not have the problem of understanding what needs to be done, we have a problem in terms of action, but there is no time to waste ", insists the green challenger in the race to take the place occupied by Merkel today.





According to the last two surveys, the distance between Spd and Cdu / Csu is reduced to a range that goes from 3 to a single point.

For the Forsa survey, the Social Democrats remain stable at 25% of the vote against 22% of the conservative union, with the Greens following at 17%.

According to the Allensbach survey, the game is even more narrow, where the SPD is first with 26%, but followed by only one point behind the CDU / CSU.

The Greens chase at a distance with 16% of the consensus, the liberals of the FDP - who aim to tip the balance in the negotiations for the future government - do not go beyond 10.5%.