Germany’s new party on the far left may eat into the far right

The new year has not started well for Germany’s ruling “traffic-light” coalition, nor indeed for traffic. On January 8th angry farmers blocked autobahns across the country, even as train drivers called a national strike. As statisticians revealed grim final numbers for 2023—such as a 3.1% real-terms fall in retail sales from 2022—pollsters unsurprisingly found that 82% of Germans are dissatisfied with the government. A survey measuring confidence in the office of the chancellor detected a vertiginous 55-point plunge between late 2020, when Angela Merkel still reigned, and now under Olaf Scholz.