Alternative for Germany (AfD) has doubled its support in just four years to 20.8%. German political consensus would ensure that AfD is kept out of power. The new government will have to do heavy-lifting in a heavily divided country. The rise and acceptance of the far right creates new challenges for Europe’s most powerful country. It comes at a time when a large part of Europe is expecting it to lead, writes Varsh V Pant, Vice President for Studies at New Delhi-based think tank Vrij Institute of Social and Economic Research. It is now for the German political class for the rest of the year to prove her wrong, says Varsh, who is also the Vice President of Research at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a Fellow at the London School of Economics and Business, among other things. The author is also a member of the board of directors of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a think tank based in London, and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), which is based in Paris.
