“Party not fit to govern”
Business associations see great risks in AfD successes
September 9, 2023, 11:38 a.m
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No other party benefits from the current mood like the AfD. This is not only a concern of politicians, but also increasingly of business associations. According to a study, they see Germany as a location in danger if the party is successful. This could further exacerbate the shortage of skilled workers.
German business associations see the success of the AfD as long-term risks for Germany as a business location. As the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” reported, citing a study by the employer-oriented German Economic Institute (IW), 48 percent of those surveyed see the biggest short-term problem as being that companies in AfD strongholds would have difficulty recruiting foreign skilled workers. The general managers of the central German business associations were interviewed, including the member associations of the BDI industrial association and the BDA employers’ association.
In the event of long-term success for the party, which is currently at a poll high, business representatives fear political risks above all: 81 percent see this as a high risk for the constructive political culture, 85 percent see state governments capable of acting and 74 percent see a federal government capable of acting at risk. When it comes to classic economic issues such as the euro and Germany as a business location, over 60 percent still see the strengthening of the AfD as a high risk.
The representatives interviewed also consider the AfD “across the board” to be “unfit to govern,” said study author Matthias Diermeier of the “FAS”. 96 percent agree that the current economic challenges “can fundamentally be addressed more successfully by parties that are based on the free-democratic basic order than by parties that have doubts about this.” The AfD is currently around 20 percent in nationwide surveys.