2013 German Elections

“Germany votes, Europe worries”

Published on 11 September 2013 at 13:28

With just two weeks to go before Germans head to the polls for legislative elections, the Europa supplement published by six European dailies — El País, Gazeta Wyborcza, The Guardian, Le Monde, La Stampa and Süddeutsche Zeitung — focuses on the expectations and fears of Europeans regarding the vote.

In fact, "the ballot in the country with the biggest economy in Europe concerns all EU citizens," says German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung:

Each government expresses differing hopes for the outcome on September 22. But they all have one thing in common: all think that in future summits, they will be meeting with a chancellor named Angela Merkel.

In London, says the paper, the question is "how Angela Merkel will respond" to the growing influence of Eurosceptics in the United Kingdom. Eurosceptics are also the focus of concern in Paris, which is counting on help from the new German government to counter their arguments in the European elections scheduled for next May. With this in mind, France is pushing for the adoption of concrete measures at the European level to fight against youth unemployment — an initiative that is supported by the Spanish government, which is also hoping that the Social Democrats, who favour an "easing" of austerity measures, will replace the Liberals in the next governmental coalition in Berlin. The Italian government would also be pleased by such a change.

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"Whatever the results of the elections," concludes the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's

European partners expect that policies governing the euro will not change fundamentally. The struggle to find the right bailout mechanism continues.

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