1. As we pass through Bonn, seat of the German Federal Government until its move to Berlin, it would be great to ask Frerich, especially, who was a Minister (Cabinet Member) in the Helmuth Kohl administration in Bonn, to share with us how the Parliamentary political system works in Germany. He was also instrumental in joining up the post offices, telecommunications systems, etc. after the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany, which we must absolutely ask him about.
2. We can also ask our guests how the political parties differ. The moderate middle-right (more conservative) parties like the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and especially its even more conservative sister party, the Bavarian CSU (Christian Socialist Union) are Catholic parties. How does that fact affect the Mormons? (The CSU recently got in hot water for saying that no one should live in Germany who can’t speak German.)
3. The middle-left to leftist parties start with the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany). (Since 2013 the SPD has been involved with the CDU/CSU in a grand coalition, Große Koalition, known as GroKo.)
4. Then there’s the FDP (Free Democratic Party) known for being a “liberal” party (actually what we might call a libertarian party). They used to be the “kingmakers” who formed coalitions with the CDU/CSU enabling them to achieve a majority, but have fallen on hard times of late.
5. The Green Party/Alliance 90 (Die Grünen/Bündnis 90) emerged from West German nature conservation groups and dissident groups in the German Democratic Republic at the time when the GDR regime had already begun to disintegrate.
6. Die Linke (The Left), formed from the successor party of the former East German state party and the party for “Work and Social Justice – The Election Alternative” (Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative – WASG). The rise of such leftists groups has weakened the SPD, formerly the largest party, now relatively very small.
7. Smaller, more extreme parties: The Pirates (a progressive “nerd” party standing for digital liberalism); and the NPD, a kind of Neo-Nazi party always just on the verge of being banned; the Republicans, a very extreme right-wing party which once got over 7% of the vote but is now very tiny again; and the equally extreme DVU (German Peoples Union). (In Germany, a party has to get at least 5% of the vote to send representatives to Parliament. This is because Hitler came to power after a lot of small parties fragmented the overall vote and allowed him to win with a minority. Germans don’t want that happening again.)
(See also: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Political_parties_of_Germany, and:
https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/germany-europe/parties-and-political-foundations)
8. The platform of many of the most extreme right-wing parties is based on opposition to immigration. We ought to ask Frerich and Charlie about a new movement, PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamification of the Occident) and some of its offshoots, which opposes immigrants, mainly Muslim immigrants. There are clear echoes of Anti-Semitism, of course (Arabs are also Semitic Peoples), and the old Nazi past looms large over everything that happens in Germany.
9. The parties are divided over such issues as the environment. Leftists want speed limits on the Autobahn, for example, and rightists want to go as fast as their car can go (otherwise, they say, what’s the point of having an expensive fast car?), increased air pollution notwithstanding. (The whole question of how many kilograms of pollutants each car produces is a big deal in Germany: they post the results and people make purchases based on those figures; taxes on cars also follow those figures.)
10. Likewise, the question of nuclear, solar, wind, Russian gas, East German soft brown coal... energy is a hot topic in Germany, again often splitting along party lines. In France, for years the question seemed settled: a large majority of their energy is nuclear (but now they are beginning to rethink this). Germans are very much less keen on nuclear and many want to ban it entirely, especially after Fukushima. Burning soft brown coal made the GDR (East Germany) into an environmental disaster zone, but they have not been able to cut it out entirely, though they have much better technology for scrubbing smoke, for example.
11. Social welfare questions are very important to Germans, again, sharply divided along party lines and along fracture lines within parties. Free tuition at universities, now the norm, is being called into question by conservative factions. Many other issues involve child support, medical care, unemployment and retraining programs, rent-control programs, etc. It will be interesting to ask our guests how they and the other LDS view these things.
12. Which brings up a very big issue: Austerity. Since the crash of 07/08 Europeans have been less inclined to try stimulate their economies in Keynesian ways than the US, especially as much as the Obama administration has wanted to (but with conservative opposition hasn’t done as much as desired). One of the Germans’ primal fears is inflation, with memories of hyperinflation still very much alive, and Chancellor Angela Merkel (pronounced Mare-cul, not Mur-cul), a strong advocate for austerity, has argued that economic stimulus would lead to run-away inflation. Chancellor David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party in Great Britain, has made similar arguments, but President François Hollande of France, leader of the Socialist Party, disagrees. (He also wants to reduce nuclear power and increase renewable power sources in France.)
13. Which brings up the whole question of Europe and the movement toward a United States of Europe known as the European Union. Charlie and Frerich will be able to fill us in on the origins which consisted of a customs agreement governing coal and steel. In 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community began to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace after decades of war. The six founders are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. This led in 1957 to the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market, then to EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement) of 1960 and thence to the EU, when the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. Let’s ask also about one half of the bicameral Parliament, called the European Parliament (meets in Strasbourg), as well as the other half of the bicameral Parliament, the Council of the European Union (meets in Brussels), and the European Commission (the executive body, meeting in Brussels and Luxembourg).
(See also: http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm)
13. Which brings up the Euro, introduced on January 1 of 2002 (though it was used as a virtual currency for electronic transfers, etc. before that, from January 1, 1999 on). The UK and Denmark, though EU members, opted out of using the Euro. (But Denmark’s currency has a fixed rate to the Euro.) Switzerland is not in the EU and doesn’t use the Euro either. The Euro’s highest value versus the U.S. dollar was $1.5916 to one Euro on 14 July 2008. Recently it has been significantly lower in value, thus favoring European manufacturers over US exporters (but US tourists vs. European tourists!) (On May 2 it was $1.12.) It was painfully excruciating for Germans to give up their Deutsch Marks, a currency they saw as absolutely stable and trustworthy. The business with Greece and some other weaker economies cause immense heartburn in Germany and great stresses within the Eu and Eurozone.
14. A big problem at the moment is Greece. Will Greece exit the Euro (Grexit)? The EU? Greece apparently entered the EU under false pretenses, having “cooked the books” badly when it did its financial reporting about taxes collected and outstanding debts, etc. This was apparently known to others but the facts were ignored in the rush to expand the EU. (Will the EU survive this stress test? What about Portugal? Spain?)
15. And how will it do with Vladimir Putin’s territorial ambitions? What’s the status of NATO? Did we bring some of this on ourselves by inviting Ukraine and other states bordering Russia known to the Russians as the Near Abroad to join the EU? NATO?
(See also: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205189938.pdf)
16. Chancellor Merkel plays a key role in the European reaction to Putin’s expansionism. Germany and other western countries depend to a large extent on Russian gas to heat their homes, run industry, etc. especially in an age when coal-fired plants are being eliminated due to pollution. But it is difficult for Germany to impose tough sanctions on Russia as President Obama might like to see them, especially from the point of view of some hawks in the US, like Senator McCain, for example, because the Germans are so heavily invested in Russia as the following story shows:
17. Former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, currently the chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG, is heavily invested in building pipe-lines under the Baltic to bring Russian gas to Germany and is seen as a friend and defender of Putin, once calling him a “flawless democrat”. In March 2014, Schröder likened Russia’s intervention in Crimea with NATO’s intervention in Kosovo, citing both cases as violations of international law and the UN Charter. He further stated that there had been “unhappy developments” on the outskirts of the former Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War, leading Putin to develop justifiable “fears about being encircled”. His decision to celebrate his 70th birthday party with Putin in Saint Petersburg’s Yusupov Palace in late April elicited further criticism from several members of Merkel’s Social Democrat coalition, including human rights spokesperson Christoph Strasser. (As Chancellor, most voters associated Schröder with the Agenda 2010 reform program, which included cuts in the social welfare system – national health insurance, unemployment payments, pensions – lowered taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment, which has been blamed for the steep decline in the fortunes of the SPD.)
18. We can ask our friends these questions anytime, but on Sunday evening on the boat, especially, we could also ask about the Church in Europe. What’s it like, now that young people can go study in Italy, for example, or work anywhere else in Europe? Has this helped the Church and its members? What’s it like generally being LDS in Europe and in Germany today? What kinds of converts are being made? (My guess is that most are from other parts of the world who come to Germany to work, or as refugees... perhaps the missionaries in Germany are quietly laying the foundation for future Church growth in many exotic places throughout the globe...)
19. My impression is that there is great strength growing quietly in the families of the Church as the youngsters grow up in the Church, go on missions, learn English, get good vocational training, at least, and some further education in many cases, get good jobs, and start families. It’s my impression that though it’s not easy to find an LDS mate, since there are not so many choices, the fact that the LDS kids are determined to marry in the Church and that they get around freely all over Europe helps the situation. (I’m hoping Frerich and Charlie can enlighten me more on how this is working out). An acquaintance of ours from Frankfurt, Sonja Sperling, for example, has led a youth choir from all over Germany for some years now. Somehow they manage to get together to rehearse and to socialize. She conducted a youth choir in one of the sessions of this year’s April Conference. They did a great job! (It didn’t hurt that the Sperlings are close friends of the Uchtdorffs.)
20. Finally (I was trying to have 20 questions), perhaps we ought to ask our German friends how cool it is to have bishops and stake presidents wearing beards! All kidding aside, I hope all of you will have many other important and interesting issues you can think of to talk about with each other and with our guests. Linda and I look forward to learning a lot from them and from you. Thanks again for your excitement to learn! Alan Keele
