Quotes
Friedrich Merz's CDU has presented an election manifesto that would create additional billions in gaps in an already strained budget
Klara Geywitz, the SPD deputy leader, said
While the mounting strategic chaos and hostility to the European Union in Washington through the Trump administration has generated shockwaves throughout the German political system, the main focus of German voters has remained on issues closer to home such as economic growth and migration
Dr Alex Clarkson, Lecturer in German and European & International Studies at King's College London, said of the election
The people of Germany voted for change in immense numbers
Viktor Orban, Hungary's pro-Putin leader, congratulated Weidel in a post to X, writing
In the past, the Left was very much a clientele party. Now it has also become a party of the younger generation,
Hermann Binkert, head of the German Institute for New Social Answers (INSA).
A lot of people see themselves going into a fierce political battle and they feel that they must act now,
said Alkadamani, 20, who lives in the east German city of LeipzigWe are witnessing a strengthening of the political fringes. At the same time, the decline of the major parties continues,
said Benjamin Hoehne, a political science professor at the Technical University ChemnitzThe Left Party was mostly excluded from the big TV debates – another sign that the influence of the old media is waning – and the elections are won and lost on social media,
the Eurointelligence think tank wrote in a research noteI am still an SPD member,
he saidThe two parties would have only a slight, perhaps razor-thin, parliamentary majority that would offer little guarantee of durability,
Janes said
I am determined to hold constructive, good, and speedy talks with the Social Democrats,
he said, voicing hope of enabling him to form a government "by around Easter" at the end of AprilThe Trump administration has made a final rupture between the U.S. and EU/UK increasingly likely,
he wrote on the social platform XThis is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party. It is also an electoral defeat,
said Scholz, admitting the SPD's defeatThe party has doubled its vote share compared to the last election and has also successfully pushed the CDU/CSU, once the party of Merkel, much further to the right,
she said
What no democracy — American, German, or European — will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of even being considered,
Vance said
Friedrich Merz must brace himself now,
warned Jan van Aken, one the leaders of The Left
We doubled our results in three years and took a major milestone yesterday!"
AfD leader Alice Weidel wrote Monday on social mediaA decent portion of additional defense spend across Europe is already priced in,
Equity research analyst Christoph Laskawi said
To justify spending towards their voters, I think for most politicians in Europe it would be helpful if the money goes to a European company,
Rozemuller addedThis will play nicely into the European Defense Industrial Strategy,
Houwer explainedThe comments already out of the CDU since they've claimed the election are very nationalistic, and the idea that they need to protect themselves and rely less on the U.S. feeds into the need to spend more on defense,
Morningstar's Field told CNBC on Monday