标签： Europe

As Germany prepares for this weekend’s critical state election in Saxony-Anhalt, the entire nation is holding its collective breath. Polls currently place the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund on track to win an outright parliamentary majority – a result that would mark the first time a far-right party has claimed full state-level power in post-war German history, a shift that could reshape the country’s political trajectory for decades to come.\n\nFor AfD leadership, a decisive victory in this eastern German state would be far more than a regional win: it would act as a critical stepping stone toward their long-held goal of gaining national power. For the party’s opponents, however, an AfD majority represents an existential threat to Germany’s post-war democratic order.\n\nThe election also casts fresh uncertainty over the future of embattled conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Plagued by poor public approval and booing at recent public appearances, Merz is widely seen as a liability for center-right candidates on the campaign trail. Many political observers note he may already regret his public pledge to halt the far-right’s rise, a promise that has been undermined by the AfD’s growing momentum across the country.\n\nAt the center of the election campaign is 35-year-old Siegmund, a charismatic AfD figure who has dominated media coverage and energized grassroots support in the state. Labeled “Germany’s Most Dangerous Man” by leading German magazine Der Spiegel, Siegmund has pushed back against widespread reports that neo-Nazi affiliates hold influential positions in his inner circle, often presenting a populist, relatable public image across social media – sharing content of himself interacting with adoring supporters and riding a retro East German scooter.\n\nThe AfD’s surging popularity in eastern Germany, its long-standing stronghold, has been fueled by two overlapping forces: lingering nostalgia for the pre-reunification East German era and widespread public anger at the status quo. Voters across the state have voiced deep frustration over a range of issues, including unmanaged immigration, perceived public safety failures, Germany’s stagnant national economy, skyrocketing energy costs, and billions in aid sent to Ukraine. For many committed supporters, the AfD represents the only party offering meaningful, radical change, with Siegmund framed as a leader who has restored hope for disillusioned voters. Even more hesitant backers say they have abandoned decades of support for mainstream parties, which they see as unresponsive to working-class needs. As one AfD legislator put it, a turn to regional governance would prove to voters that “the sky won’t fall in” if the party takes power.\n\nDetractors argue that the AfD’s policy platform for Saxony-Anhalt is deeply controversial and incompatible with Germany’s democratic and social values. Key planks include segregating child refugees into separate schooling, on the grounds that their stay in Germany is temporary; the party’s manifesto also condemns what it calls the aggressive promotion of “sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles” over “normal family structures,” calling for a ban on LGBT rainbow flags in public schools and a curriculum that reduces focus on Nazi history and emphasizes more “positive” elements of German national history. On immigration, the party has proposed creating a dedicated task force to detain and deport migrants who lack legal residency, while calling for an immediate end to what it labels “illegal, culturally alien” mass migration.\n\nThe AfD has also faced repeated scrutiny over its well-documented pro-Russia sympathies, leading to warnings that the party cannot be trusted with sensitive state intelligence. Just this week, Berlin publicly blamed Moscow for a failed drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, a claim the Kremlin has denied. The controversy comes amid reports of a Russian military mug displayed in the office of senior AfD state figure Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, who dismissed the item as a simple souvenir, adding “it’s not our war.” German security officials have also warned of escalating Russian-backed disinformation campaigns targeting AfD’s political rivals, a charge Moscow dismisses as “anti-Russian hysteria.”\n\nWidespread concerns over extremism within the party are not limited to foreign policy. Saxony-Anhalt’s AfD branch is officially classified as a right-wing extremist movement by German domestic intelligence, which accuses the local organization of being rooted in “racist ideology” and holding anti-constitutional goals. During a recent AfD rally covered by the BBC, an attendee was spotted wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “Arisch” – the German term for Aryan, the white supremacist racial category weaponized by the Nazis to promote their ideology of a master race. While it remains unclear whether the man was a party member, supporter, or casual attendee, the incident has reinforced long-standing concerns about extremist influence within the movement. The AfD, which frames itself as a conservative libertarian movement, rejects all extremism claims as politically motivated smears and rejects any comparison to National Socialism. If elected to a majority, Siegmund has even refused to rule out dissolving the state branch of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV), the body that monitors the party’s extremist activities.\n\nGermany’s mainstream parties have maintained a long-standing “Brandmauer” (firewall) policy, ruling out any formal or informal coalition with the AfD. This political blockade means the party must win an outright parliamentary majority to take power, rather than forming a coalition with smaller parties. Its path to victory therefore depends heavily on whether smaller competing parties manage to clear the 5% vote threshold required to gain seats in the state parliament – a mathematical reality that could work heavily in the AfD’s favor if smaller rivals fail to qualify.\n\nUnlike past regional elections where the AfD has only managed to crack the mainstream firewall, this vote could see the party bypass it entirely. If the AfD secures a majority, it will face an unprecedented test: for years, the party has built its support on anti-establishment rhetoric, blaming Berlin for all of Germany’s problems. Once in power, it will no longer be able to solely rail against incumbents – it will have to deliver on its promises, facing the same governing pressures that have frustrated mainstream parties for decades.\n\nState governments in Germany wield significant authority over key policy areas including local education, policing, and cultural policy, and their delegates hold seats in the Bundesrat, the federal government’s upper legislative chamber. An AfD-led state government would therefore be able to implement its controversial policy agenda at the regional level while gaining a far louder voice in national politics. Currently, the AfD not only leads polls in most eastern states but also holds a lead in national polling, making this regional election a critical bellwether for the country’s future.\n\nThough Saxony-Anhalt is a small state by population, its upcoming election is one of the most consequential political moments in modern German history, with outcomes that will ripple across the entire nation and European politics as a whole.

Diplomatic sources confirmed Thursday that the United States, Britain, France and Germany have finalized a draft resolution for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors that would formally bring Iran’s ongoing noncompliance with nuclear nonproliferation rules before the United Nations Security Council, a move that comes after months of stalled diplomacy and heightened regional conflict over Tehran’s atomic program.

Under the terms of the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran bears a legal obligation to fully disclose all nuclear material and activities to the IAEA, and grant the Vienna-based watchdog’s inspectors unimpeded access to verify that no nuclear resources are diverted toward weapons development. For decades, this framework has formed the foundation of international oversight of Iran’s nuclear program, but cooperation collapsed dramatically this year amid escalating military activity.

The push for a formal referral dates back to June 2025, when the IAEA Board of Governors issued its first formal finding of Iranian noncompliance in 20 years — a ruling that came just one day before the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. For months, action on a referral was paused to give diplomatic efforts a final chance to resolve the standoff, but senior Western officials say that path has been exhausted.

“The IAEA board has to follow its mandate and act now,” a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations, told reporters. “Not only has Iran refused to cooperate, all meaningful communication has ceased.”

Since the June 2025 strikes that came amid a 12-day open conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran, Tehran has blocked IAEA inspectors from accessing nuclear sites damaged in the bombings, despite its legal requirements under the NPT. The watchdog has also been unable to verify the current status of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium, a challenge compounded by the broader ongoing war that began when the U.S. and Israel launched large-scale strikes on Feb. 28, with fresh exchanges of fire between the two sides continuing this week.

In a confidential IAEA report obtained by the Associated Press this Tuesday, the agency warned that Iran’s continued refusal of access and failure to cooperate on material verification constitutes a critical “proliferation risk” that must be “addressed with the utmost urgency.”

Current IAEA data puts Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity at 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds). Enrichment to 90% purity qualifies as weapons-grade material, meaning 60% enrichment is just one short technical step from a weapons-capable material. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned in an AP interview last year that this stockpile is large enough to allow Iran to build up to 10 nuclear bombs if it chooses to pursue weaponization — though he emphasized this does not mean Tehran currently possesses a nuclear weapon.

The Tuesday report also confirmed that the IAEA has made no progress on its long-running investigation into unexplained uranium traces found at multiple undeclared sites across Iran. Western intelligence officials suspect these traces could indicate Iran ran a secret nuclear weapons program prior to 2003, a claim Iran has consistently denied. Tehran has repeatedly maintained that its entire nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, including energy production and medical research.

A referral to the Security Council would shift oversight of the dispute to a higher international body with the authority to impose legally binding punitive measures, including sweeping economic sanctions and asset freezes. However, substantive UN action is widely expected to face an immediate block: Iran’s allies Russia and China both hold permanent veto power on the Security Council, and have previously blocked punitive measures against Tehran.

The draft resolution, which was first reported by Reuters and reviewed by the AP, requests that Grossi transmit the text, alongside all previously adopted IAEA resolutions on Iran’s noncompliance, to all IAEA member states, as well as the UN Security Council and General Assembly, in line with the IAEA’s founding statute. Even in the face of expected Security Council gridlock, Western powers argue that a formal referral carries significant diplomatic weight.

Notably, the draft also reaffirms the co-sponsors’ commitment to a negotiated end to the standoff. The text “stresses its support for a diplomatic solution to the challenges posed by the Iranian nuclear programme and its implications for regional peace and stability leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities, and encourages all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy.”

Diplomats caution that the draft remains in active negotiation, and has not yet been formally submitted to the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors. The text could still be amended before a vote, which is scheduled to take place during next week’s Board meeting in Vienna.

Iran has long rejected international pressure to restrict its nuclear program, and has repeatedly criticized IAEA investigations as politically motivated by Western powers.

On a Friday rally in the southern Italian city of Bari, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni marked a unprecedented political milestone for her right-wing administration, celebrating that her government has become the longest-serving single cabinet in Italy’s post-war republican history. Crossing the 1,414-consecutive-day mark in office, Meloni’s coalition has officially surpassed the previous 1,412-day record set by Silvio Berlusconi’s second administration, which held power from 2001 to 2005.

Addressing thousands of cheering supporters who chanted her name through the event, Meloni framed the longevity record as clear proof of the unity and resilience of her center-right coalition. “It is no coincidence that the three longest-serving governments in the history of the Italian Republic are all center-right governments,” she told the crowd. Framing political continuity as her government’s foundational achievement, Meloni added: “Stability is our first great reform.” She argued that the unusual stretch of unbroken governance has allowed her administration to advance economic and foreign policy priorities that would have been impossible to pursue under Italy’s historic pattern of short-lived, frequently collapsing administrations.

In a vulnerable, personal reflection on her time in office, Meloni opened up about the steep obstacles she has faced while pushing forward her policy agenda and pushing back against political opposition to change. “There were days when it felt like I was swimming through glue, but I never gave up and I do not intend to start now,” she said, a comment that drew loud, sustained cheers from attendees. The Bari rally also laid out the core narrative Meloni is expected to center in the lead-up to Italy’s next national election, scheduled for 2027: that consistent, stable governance has delivered tangible results and rebuilt Italy’s global credibility.

Political analysts note that the milestone caps a remarkable political transformation for Meloni, who made history as Italy’s first female prime minister when she took office in 2022, rising from a fringe political outsider to a central figure in Italian and European politics. When her government first took power, many international and European observers raised alarms over her party’s historical roots in post-war neo-fascism, widely predicting she would adopt a confrontational stance toward EU institutions in Brussels. To date, those fears have not materialized.

Vera Capperucci, a professor of the history of European political parties at Rome’s LUISS University, described the Bari celebratory rally as a “necessary act” to cement the government’s narrative, adding that foreign policy credibility has been the defining success of Meloni’s term. “Meloni has built credibility with European partners while maintaining Italy’s Atlantic alliances, defying concerns when she took office that her government would pursue a more confrontational course toward Brussels,” Capperucci explained. Since taking office, Meloni has stayed consistent in Italy’s military and political support for Ukraine, worked within existing European regulatory and institutional frameworks, and built close, cooperative ties with key Western allies across the globe.

Meloni and her supporters credit the government’s political stability for a string of tangible domestic achievements: they point to the creation of more than 1 million new jobs, a steady drop in national unemployment, more disciplined management of Italy’s public finances, and a sharp reduction in irregular migrant arrivals along Italian coasts. For many attendees at the Bari rally, the longevity record alone counts as a major win for Italian politics, which has been plagued by fragmented coalitions and early government collapses for decades. Marco Macrì, a 34-year-old Forza Italia supporter from the small southern town of Alliste, near Lecce, noted that Meloni has successfully held the center-right coalition together in the period following Berlusconi’s death. “Now, with Giorgia, we are all united under one roof … with different symbols but part of one family,” he said.

Still, the milestone has drawn sharp pushback from political opponents, who argue that Meloni’s government has failed to address Italy’s most persistent long-term challenges. Critics point out that deep structural issues including stagnant productivity growth, chronically low wages, and widespread inefficiencies in public administration and services remain largely unresolved. Opposition leaders also accuse the coalition of cutting critical funding for public health and education services, and argue that the government’s only economic achievements have been limited to controlling public debt and deficit levels, with no actionable plan to boost sustained long-term economic growth.

It is worth noting that while Meloni leads the longest-serving single uninterrupted government in Italian republican history, Berlusconi still holds the record for the longest total cumulative time in office across multiple separate administrations. No Italian government has ever completed a full five-year parliamentary term without collapsing or being replaced early. As Meloni’s administration basks in the glow of its record-breaking milestone, the national political conversation has already begun to shift: the question is no longer whether Meloni’s coalition can survive, but whether Italian voters will decide it has delivered enough to earn another term in 2027.