"Far-right gains in east Germany could deal blow to economy," 23 September 2024

Even though incumbent state premier Dietmar Woidke of the Social Democrats won the Brandenburg elections by a small margin, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won just shy of 29.2% of the votes...

Many economists and business representatives are now concerned that Germany's right-wing shift in the east could negatively impact the economy of the former Communist East German region.

"Many skilled workers will likely migrate to western Germany or larger cities," said Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin. "Brandenburg, like Saxony and Thuringia, stands to lose out because of this," he told DW ahead of the elections...

DIW's Fratzscher says the rise of the AfD is reason for concern among both foreign workers and German nationals: "German businesses and skilled German workers also don't want to live in these regions in many cases." Especially workers with migration background are increasingly skeptical about life in Germany due to the popularity of the AfD...

Carsten Brönstrup, spokesperson for the Berlin-Brandenburg Business Associations, hopes the upswing will not be interrupted because of the elections. "[US automaker] Tesla, of course, has made a big investment, which is a major success story. We believe Brandenburg will continue to benefit from electromobility as a long-term automotive trend."