The surge of the far-right – who is to blame? MEPs face off in The Ring

Saxony-Anhalt on the Brink: Germany’s Far-Right Question and Europe’s Response

Poinews.com – This Sunday, the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt may find itself at the epicentre of a seismic political shift. Opinion polls place the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) above the 40 per cent mark, leaving Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) trailing well behind. If those numbers translate into votes, the far right would secure its first state government since the end of the Second World War — a milestone that would break through one of the deepest-seated political taboos in post-war German history and ripple outward across the continent.

Why the Result Matters Beyond One State

The stakes extend far beyond a single state parliament. A strengthened AfD would sharpen the domestic fight over migration policy, climate regulation, and the scale of financial and military aid flowing to Ukraine. For the European Union, which already contends with mounting geopolitical strain on multiple fronts, a less predictable German partner at a critical juncture would complicate coordination at every level — from Brussels budget negotiations to NATO defence planning. The question is no longer whether frustration with the political establishment is building in eastern Germany; it is whether that frustration is about to crystallise into governing power, and what that means for the European project as a whole.

Two MEPs Enter the Ring

To interrogate these questions head-on, the latest edition of The Ring — a European Parliament debate format in which two members of opposite political families face each other under a moderator’s questioning — pits two seasoned legislators against one another. The episode is hosted by Stefan Grobe, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.

On one side sits Hildegard Bentele, a German member of the European Parliament elected under the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) banner. Within the Parliament she holds the Vice-chairmanship of the Committee on Development, sits on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and chairs the Delegation for relations with Israel. Her framing of the challenge is rooted in what she describes as a values-based, optimistic counter-narrative:

“As Christian-Democrats, we’re convinced that the only way to counter the rise of the far-right in Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany and across Europe, is listening closely to people, offering realistic solutions and presenting – based on our values – an optimistic vision for the future.”

On the opposite side stands Jean-Marc Germain, a French MEP from the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group. An economist by training, Germain previously served as an adviser to former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and now functions as one of the principal figures within the S&D group in the European Parliament, where he leads the group’s position on budgetary matters. His diagnosis points to structural economic failure rather than cultural messaging:

“As long as Europe fails to build economic sovereignty, the far right will thrive in the regions devastated by globalisation and de-industrialisation.”

The Structural Argument Behind the Numbers

Germain’s remark lands with particular force in Saxony-Anhalt, a state whose industrial base — once anchored by heavy manufacturing and state-owned enterprises in the former East — has been hollowed out over three decades of reunification-era restructuring. Unemployment rates there have historically run above the national average, and younger residents report feeling disconnected from both Berlin’s political class and Brussels’s technocratic governance. The AfD’s polling surge in the region tracks closely with areas of economic dislocation, suggesting that the party’s appeal is not purely ideological but also material: voters in de-industrialised communities are responding to a narrative that blames globalisation and elite indifference for their precarity.

Bentele’s response, by contrast, emphasises the communicative and moral dimension. Her argument implies that the centre-right’s failure is one of tone and imagination — that it has not translated its policy platform into language and vision that resonates with anxious voters. For the EPP, the remedy is not to abandon liberal-democratic values but to repackage them with greater empathy and concrete policy specificity, particularly on migration management and energy costs.

What a Post-Election Germany Would Mean for the EU

Should the AfD cross the threshold into state government in Saxony-Anhalt, the immediate practical consequences would be limited: state competences in Germany cover education, policing, and regional administration rather than foreign or fiscal policy. Yet the symbolic weight would be enormous. It would validate the AfD’s claim that mainstream parties have abandoned eastern voters, embolden the party’s federal campaign, and potentially accelerate its trajectory toward parliamentary representation at the Bundestag level. For the EU, the concern is cumulative — each national election that strengthens a Eurosceptic or illiberal party erodes the political capital needed for deeper integration, common defence spending, and coordinated migration management.

The debate in The Ring thus captures a tension that runs through European politics in 2026: whether the answer to far-right momentum lies in better storytelling and moral clarity from the centre, or in a fundamental restructuring of European economic policy to restore material security in regions left behind by globalisation. Both MEPs agree on the diagnosis — that something has gone wrong in the relationship between citizens and their institutions — but they diverge sharply on the remedy. Saxony-Anhalt’s ballot boxes will offer the electorate a chance to weigh those answers, and Europe will be watching.