The AfD - Alternative for Germany - was founded in 2013 to protest the Euro rescue policy. Originally conservative-liberal, but to the right of the CDU/CSU, the party presented itself after 2015 as the main opponent to Angela Merkel's migration policy. It subsequently achieved electoral success, including its entry into the Bundestag in 2017.

In 2018, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified 24,100 people in Germany as right-wing extremists. More than one out of two right-wing extremists is described as “violence-oriented”.  These figures demonstrate the high level of threat in the German constitutional democracy, which has already manifested itself in the form of various terrorist attacks against foreigners, religious communities and more recently politicians.

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, celebrations have taken a disappointing turn. The electoral successes of the far-right German party AfD (Alternative for Germany (in German:  Alternative für Deutschland)) in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia in September and October 2019 reflect growing unease and discontent in the new Länder faced with mitigated outcomes of the unification.

Whether we think of France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria or Germany, the social democratic or socialist parties in Europe are losing ground or even facing dissolution. Ironically, the crisis of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) began with the resounding victory of Gerhard Schröder in 1998.

The German dual system of professional training is seen as an international reference model. It aims at training qualified employees for an innovative economy rather than being the last resort for less able pupils. Parents and adolescents regard apprenticeships as an entry ticket to a good job with career opportunities; companies value the advantages of practice-oriented training in situ conceived in cooperation with its own professionals as this spares them the costs of integrating school graduates.

The number of crises we face is rising, due to failing states, wars and armed conflicts, poverty and lack of good governance in many countries. State and society are constantly confronted with new challenges. These crises occur simultaneously and at an ever faster pace.