In early September, Germany’s far-right political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won an unprecedented victory in local parliamentary elections. It won the highest number of votes in the eastern German state of Thuringia, with a vote rate of 32.8%, beating the Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, CDU, referred to as the Christian Democratic Union) in second place by nearly ten percentage points.
This is the first time since World War II that the far right has won the most votes in a state election. The last victory was against the Nazi Party led by Hitler.
Moreover, inTSMCIn the state of Saxony where it entered, the Alternative Party also won 30.7% of the votes, only about 1 percentage point behind the CDU, which had the highest number of votes, and only one seat in the parliament. This means that in the future, even if the Alternative for Africa party may not be able to successfully realize its political views locally, they will definitely be able to block the political views put forward by other parties that form the government.
This may cast a layer of hidden worry on TSMC’s development in Germany.
Alternative for Germany: From anti-euro to anti-immigration
Manipulate social issues of immigration to stir up ethnic antagonisms
If you first get to know the Alternative for Germany, you will understand why there is such a possible concern.
The Alternative Party was founded in 2013. It was originally founded by a group of anti-Euro intellectuals who advocated mercantilism and liberalism. They believed that the EU was a “vassal of the United States.”
However, as times change, especially since 2015,Refugees from the Middle East and Africa poured into Germany, and the Alternative for Germany gradually transformed. By discussing the country’s economic burden and security issues,graduallybecomeforA far-right party with anti-immigration as its central ideology and representing populism.
This also explains why the states where the far right has gained momentum are concentrated in eastern Germany. Because this is the first stop for most immigrants and refugees entering Germany. Wang Hongren, CEO of the National Policy Research Institute, told Shang Zhou that this is a phenomenon caused by post-Cold War globalization.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany and West Germany ostensibly became one, but in fact there was still a gap in living standards and income. Even though the gap is gradually narrowing, people living in East Germany are still pessimistic about their prospects before they catch up.
They are a group of people who have been counterattacked and lost comparative benefits under the wave of globalization. They feel that their job opportunities have been taken away by regions with cheaper labor.
Such sentiments have transferred to immigrants. The Alternative for Alternative Party has fully captured this mentality. They emerged from the Internet and make good use of the power of media to gather into communities. Therefore, the party has many young supporters of the Internet generation.
In addition, after the Ukraine-Russia war intensified, not only Ukraine, but also border countries such as Poland were afraid of being affected and moved to Germany one after another. According to statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in mid-February this year, there were approximately 6 million Ukrainian war refugees registered across Europe, of which 1.13 million were staying in Germany.
In addition to job opportunities, the Alternative for Africa also operatesImmigration crime issueswhich further aroused ethnic antagonism and polarization.
Although at present, no one from traditional political parties dares to form an alliance with the Alternative Party, because contact with such radical populism is still taboo for the other 6 to 70 people in society. Therefore, with little change in the main ruling coalition, the progress of TSMC’s establishment of “European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.” in Germany does not seem to have a major impact yet.
“Don’t forget that 70% of the people are against the Alternative for Africa,” a Saxony official told Business Weekly.
However, since 30% of the extreme rightists exist, the social atmosphere will not be completely friendly to immigrants. Taiwanese engineers who go to Germany in the future may still have to be mentally prepared. In the future, many policies related to immigration or TSMC’s investment may still be boycotted by the far right, adding more uncertainty to TSMC’s German factory.
(Author: Cheng Lixi; This article is frombusiness week》Reprinted with permission; source of first image: shutterstock)
