Morning Wire XX
[0] Germany was recently rocked by the largest farmer protests yet in Europe.
[1] The farmers have found themselves under threat of new taxes they say will be financially crippling for them.
[2] They're part of a growing coalition of activated voters frustrated by a shrinking economy and green initiatives.
[3] In today's episode, we speak to an expert about the reasons for Germany's recent economic woes and political turmoil.
[4] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[5] It's Sunday, January 21st, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire.
[6] Joining us today is Samuel Gregg, author and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation's B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies.
[7] Samuel, thanks for coming on.
[8] My pleasure.
[9] Thanks for having me. So first off, can you give us a broad overview of what's happening in Germany right now, both economically and politically?
[10] Well, that's a big subject, but it's also a depressing subject as well.
[11] So I think it's pretty well understood that for decades, really, Germany has been the economic powerhouse of Europe.
[12] It was the economy which we could always assume would do the right thing when it came to being competitive, being entrepreneurial.
[13] We were always sure that it was the economy in which the government would be the most fiscally conservative and disciplined.
[14] It was the country which would always ask the awkward questions.
[15] meetings of various European Union commissions, asking how are we going to pay for that?
[16] What are the consequences for the economy?
[17] But that has all changed.
[18] And there's many reasons why that has changed.
[19] Firstly, we're seeing the German economy becoming less and less competitive.
[20] In fact, it has really for maybe six years been in a type of slum.
[21] But then last year, it actually shrank.
[22] And this, of course, is not good for the rest of the rest of the rest of the of the European Union.
[23] So in 2023, the German economy contracted by 0 .3%.
[24] Now, you might say, well, what's the big deal?
[25] Well, the big deal is that if the German economy is not actively growing, then everyone else is going to start falling behind.
[26] So that's a big problem, that Germany, but by extension, the European Union has now its most powerful, biggest, strongest economy is in deep trouble.
[27] And what changed six years ago that caused this cultural change in Germany?
[28] Well, many things.
[29] I think, for example, when Angela Merkel was the chancellor for a long period of time, I think she and her government became extremely complacent.
[30] They got distracted by things like the very big immigration problem that they have in Europe, and particularly in Germany.
[31] They over -extended themselves in China.
[32] So Germany and German businesses invested heavily in China.
[33] And of course, the Chinese economy has been doing less and less well over the past six years.
[34] And also, we have to say that Germany has pretty much committed itself across the political spectrum with some important exceptions to a type of deindustrialization.
[35] And this is all being driven by the climate change agenda.
[36] Well, it turns out that when you do things like shut down nuclear power plants, when you say that, well, you know, industrial production is allegedly causing environmental problems, so therefore we need to wind back on that.
[37] We need to transition to greener forms of energy, greener forms of industry, etc. Then that's a problem.
[38] And last of all, I should mention, that Germany was also heavily invested in Russia.
[39] and over the past five years, that relationship has become more and more tense, and over the past two years, it's become a very difficult relationship, which has caused all sorts of energy problems for Germany, cheap oil from Russia, has dried up.
[40] So when you take all those things and put them together, you start to think, okay, well, these are the reasons why the German economy is shrinking and why this has severe implications for the rest of the European Union.
[41] Now, you mentioned the climate change agenda and the focus on greener forms of industry.
[42] This obviously ties in with those massive farmer protests we've been seeing.
[43] Can you tell us a little more about what exactly they're protesting?
[44] So in Germany, as in many other Western European countries, part of the climate change agenda involves essentially reducing particular types of subsidies to farmers.
[45] I'm thinking here of diesel subsidies, for example, but also essentially, curtailing agriculture in Gem.
[46] The reason being is that this is seen as part of fulfilling commitments to a net zero climate agenda.
[47] So in Germany, but also in other countries like France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and I suspect we're going to see in many other European countries as well, farmers across these countries are saying, you're basically asking us to forego our livelihoods, to give up agriculture as a way of making our way in the world and essentially eliminating in some respects agricultural from the economies of these countries.
[48] Now, if you're a farmer, and particularly if your family has been in farming for a long period of time, you shouldn't be surprised that you're going to find these people going out and protesting in the streets, because they are the ones who are being asked to carry the burden for net zero policies, which I think it's pretty clear, aren't likely to have very much impact upon this whole climate change agenda in the first place.
[49] And of course, there are political parties that are glomming onto this and are saying, enough with these mainstream establishment parties that have this sort of monolithic approach to these types of issues, and they're looking for political alternatives that will represent them in the Bundestag, but also other legislatures in the European Union.
[50] So that's what's going on there.
[51] It's tied to sort of this whole commitment by so many European national governments, particularly in Germany, to this climate change agenda, a very radical climate change agenda, and lots of Europeans, who as you know are generally much more sympathetic to this type of thing than, say, Americans, lots of Europeans across the political spectrum and now entire economic sectors are saying enough is enough.
[52] Now, when you say that many are looking to break away from that monolithic approach with these issues, what exactly does that look like?
[53] So by that I mean people who belong to parties that are more or less on the mainstream center right and the mainstream center left.
[54] And in Germany's case, that's the Christian Democratic Union on the right and the social democrats on the left.
[55] It's increasingly difficult to tell these two parties apart because they have more or less adopted many of the same policies that have caused a lot of problems.
[56] And they're the ones who have been in charge over the past six years.
[57] So people are saying, well, we need to think about alternatives.
[58] And what are the types of alternatives they're looking at?
[59] Well, they're moving to, let's call them, sharper edges of the right and sharper edges of the left.
[60] So the mainstream establishment, center -right and center -left parties have been steadily losing votes on the right and on the left.
[61] And what's interesting about that is many of these groups that have emerged on the harder right and on the harder left, in many cases, they have some quite similar positions.
[62] So, for example, you don't usually expect the hard left to get worked up about immigration, but they are worked up about immigration because they believe it's having particular implications for working class Germans.
[63] And you find the same thing happening on the right, where you find there's plenty of sentiment about what's happening to German society, what's happening regarding social cohesion as a consequence of so many migrants.
[64] entering the European Union and many of whom want to go to Germany because the German welfare state is very generous and it's very easy to access.
[65] So people on the right and on the left are looking at this and saying, well, this is not just bad economically.
[66] We can't have people coming here simply because they want welfare.
[67] There are real social cohesion problems associated with this, which the mainstream center right and mainstream center left parties have basically been ignoring or telling people basically to shut up and just get on with life.
[68] So that means that the German political spectrum is splintering in a way that has not been seen for a long time.
[69] And what kind of splinter parties are they seeing?
[70] And are any of them getting any serious traction?
[71] Yes, indeed.
[72] In fact, we've seen, for example, in Germany, the emergence of a splinter group from the Greens, the Greens being part of the government in Germany.
[73] right now, basically a left -wing splinter group that has said that it's not happy with the radical climate position of the government, particularly the Greens.
[74] They're also not happy with the woke politics.
[75] And I think this is fascinating that you have people on the left in Germany and many other European countries who are saying this woke agenda, not only does it seem to be coming from the same people who are pushing the climate change agenda, But the woke agenda is now starting to impact segments of society that resent being told that they're not allowed to speak in particular ways anymore.
[76] And we're talking here about people who are not conservatives.
[77] We're talking about people who come from more center -left positions.
[78] And it's fascinating, I think, that many of these issues, whether it's the climate issues or the fed -upness with the constant pushing of woke ideology in United States, universities, in journalism, etc. This is starting to alienate people across the political spectrum.
[79] So I think this is going to play into the way that we're going to see a reconfiguration of politics and economics, not just in Germany, but in the rest of the European Union as a whole.
[80] And if I was Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum, I'd be very worried that is seeing comprehensive rejection of many of the policies that he's associated with, the World Economic Forum, associated with, and many European governments are associated with.
[81] I'd be very worried if I was him, because this comprehensive rejection of these policies is conglomerating together.
[82] It's fusing together, and it's getting stronger and stronger across the European political spectrum.
[83] Well, Samuel, that was very informative.
[84] Thank you so much for coming on today.
[85] My pleasure.
[86] That was Samuel Gregg, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation's B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies and author of Becoming Europe, economic decline, culture, and how America can avoid a European future.
[87] And this has been an extra edition of Morning Wire.