Italian press reactions to the AfD election success in Saxony-Anhalt

The fact that the election in the small German state of Saxony-Anhalt is not like any other in Italy can already be seen from the front pages of the major daily newspapers on Monday morning: “The AfD is winning and causing fear,” writes the “Corriere della Sera,” “The neo-Nazi wave is not to be trifled with,” says “Il Foglio,” and the “Repubblica” freely quotes Wim Wenders: “Il buio sopra Berlino,” “The darkness over Berlin.”

A day later - based on another film title - Ulrich Siegmund and his wife Julia drive with their Simson towards the inscription "Zona d'interest", "Zone of interest", on the front page of the "Manifesto". Newspapers with very different political orientations convey that we are not dealing with just any party here, but with one that should not be underestimated and whose success also plays a role for Europe and for Italy.

Of course, you first have to explain to Italian readers who this Ulrich Siegmund actually is, what his party and its program are in Saxony-Anhalt and in the federal government, and exactly what the relationship between East and West Germany is, which in Italy would probably be most comparable to the relationship between North and South. But then we will soon turn our attention to the question of what this election victory means for our own country.

A right-wing government coalition has been in power in Italy for almost four years now, but it cannot necessarily be compared with the AfD. Meloni, as journalist Tonia Mastrobuoni, long-time Germany correspondent for "Repubblica", who recently published a book about the German right, says in a TV debate about the election victory, has had the opposite development than the AfD: While the Prime Minister has moderated herself over the years, the German party has become more and more radicalized and has therefore grown in success.

How the members of Meloni's coalition react to this success and in particular to the events of last Sunday - quite differently - and what effect this could possibly have on the coalition peace, is also discussed in the newspapers: While Transport Minister and Russia friend Matteo Salvini congratulates and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani describes the election result as "very bad news", nothing is heard from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a supporter of Ukraine.

Apart from these initial election analyses, the question also arises in Italy as to what will follow from the results. One should not downplay the danger, writes Claudio Cerasa, editor-in-chief of “Foglio,” in an editorial, but one should not fall into alarmism either: “If the populists are phenomenally good at finding scapegoats, the anti-populists must become even more phenomenal at finding solutions.” A statement that is certainly correct, but not revolutionary new either.

The left-wing daily newspaper “Manifesto” writes that the AfD’s election victory in a small, aging and economically weak federal state may not be enough to “make history.” But she half-retracts that statement a paragraph later. Germany, it says, will soon likely break a promise it once made to the whole world: never to let right-wing extremist forces take power again.