AfD’s stronger-than-expected performance in the German election reminded us of a lot of things, unfortunately not the least of which is that it’s still possible for far-Right parties to capture the hearts and minds of Germans.
But beyond conjuring some rather frightening ghosts, AfD’s entry into the Bundestag also underscores the extent to which the populist uprising that brought us Trump, Brexit, and helped fuel the campaigns of Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen is not only still alive, it is in fact gathering strength (again).
Of course Nazis aren’t going to take power in Germany any time soon and it’s unlikely that AfD will represent much more than a nuisance for Angela Merkel, but the populist spirit is alive and well in Italy and Spain and as Bloomberg’s Mark Cudmore writes on Monday morning, that’s something investors aren’t paying enough attention to. That’s about to change. More below…
Via Bloomberg
The euro is once again set to suffer from an outsized political premium. Spain, rather than Germany, is the real problem.
