Expert: Insufficient advocacy by German government gives space to opponents of support for Ukraine
Russian narratives and opponents of military support for Ukraine are gaining supporters in Germany because of the country's old problems and insufficient explanations from the coalition government as to why it is important to support Ukraine.
This opinion was expressed by Anastasia Pochumban, an employee of the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP), in a commentary to Ukrinform.
She believes that the right-wing bias among a number of voters in Germany goes back to the influx of Syrian refugees in 2015-2016 and is complemented by the fact that the AfD coalition did not explain sufficiently why Ukraine's resistance and the economic impact of Russia's aggression are important.
“This gives space to Russian narratives that 'we are now paying for the war', 'Ukraine will not win the war', 'we do not need all these migrants from Ukraine'. I think that it was not explained enough why Ukraine is important, why it is important to help, and what will happen if we do not provide support,” Pochumban emphasized.
The expert draws attention to the fact that two German parties are in favor of ending military support for Ukraine - the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BWS), and calls for more attention to the Wagenknecht Alliance, as it works with different voters than the far right and is supported by young people.
“It's hard for me to say what Ukraine can do, because this is also an internal German issue. Ukraine is an external factor that points to problems that are already present. There is already a lot of advocacy and explanations, but we need to work within Germany,” Pochumban added.
As Ukrinform reported, on September 1, local elections were held in two states in eastern Germany - Saxony and Thuringia. They showed the growing role of populists in the former territories of East Germany.
In a year, elections to the Bundestag will be held.