Monday, October 4th, 2021
Bpb President sees turning point
“The end of the people’s parties is sealed”
For the head of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the federal election is a turning point in post-war history. Thomas Krüger considers personalization, among other things, to be unstoppable. At the same time, it is a gain that many parties are represented in the Bundestag.
From the point of view of the President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Thomas Krüger, the era of popular parties is foreseeably over. “The federal election marks a turning point in post-war history,” he told the editorial network in Germany. “Because the end of the people’s parties is sealed.”
In the election a week ago, the SPD had won, but only with 25.7 percent. The union had fallen to 24.1 percent. By 2005, both people’s parties had always achieved around 30 percent or much more. After that, the SPD had already sunk to the 20-degree mark, and now the Union has also collapsed.
“And personalization is unstoppable,” said Krüger. “That means: parties are not allowed to act ideologically, but have to act according to criteria of reason and for a limited period of time.” From his point of view, it can also be “a gain if a broader party system develops,” as he explained.
Since the AfD moved into the Bundestag in 2017, the parliament has seven parties. With the arrival of the South Schleswig Voters’ Association (SSW) with one MP, eight parties are now represented in the Bundestag. The party of the Danish minority and the national Frisians, as a party of the national minority, is excluded from the five percent threshold. Until the Greens moved in in 1983 – apart from the early years – there were only CDU / CSU, SPD and FDP there.
The former GDR civil rights activist Krüger is a member of the SPD. In the early 1990s he was Senator for Family and Youth in Berlin. From 1994 to 1998 he sat in the Bundestag. Since 1995 he has been President of the German Children’s Fund. In 2000 he also became President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education.