Germany's Left Party will vote against a special fund for increased military spending in the next legislature, party leader Ines Schwerdtner said on Tuesday.

Tuesday on the RealClearPolitics Podcast, Carl Cannon spoke with historian and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Liana Fix about the recent election results in Germany, where the mainstream conservative party led by Friedrich Merz captured the most votes and the further-right Alternative For Deutschland (AfD) party took second place.

Struggling a month ago, the Die Linke party surged into Parliament by riding a backlash against conservative immigration policy.

Populist far-right parties are moving from the political fringes to the mainstream, bringing their climate skepticism with them.

Both the far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland and the far-left Die Linke saw significant gains and were the most popular parties among young people.

An alliance between Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the center-left SPD is the only viable path to form a new government for Germany.

“The End of Germany’s Climate Crusade.” That’s how a Politico headline last week described the country’s national elections held this past Sunday. The election was still days away, but opinion polls had already made clear that “one of the world’s most climate-ambitious governments will fall,” Karl Mathiesen wrote.

He has vowed to prioritize European unity and the continent’s security as it grapples with the new Trump administration and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Once written off as a party in terminal decline, Die Linke is defying expectations with a youth-driven resurgence.

Four candidates are running to be Germany’s next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz, current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, and Alice Weidel, of the far-right AfD.