The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the June 2024 European Parliament election in eastern Germany with roughly 28% of the vote, beating every mainstream party in the region.
Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution formally classified the AfD as a 'confirmed right-wing extremist' organization in May 2025.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May 2025 with the lowest first-ballot vote of any postwar German chancellor, needing a second round to secure the job.
Germany's economy contracted in both 2023 and 2024, the first back-to-back annual GDP declines since the early 2000s, per the Federal Statistical Office.
Far-right or national-populist parties now lead polls or sit in government in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, and Hungary.