A German far-right party is using a simple message to attract voters in a mining...
SPREMBERG, Germany - A German far-right party is using a simple message to attract voters in a mining region threatened by government plans to phase out coal: jobs are more important than the environment.
“We won’t get a second chance. We will go from village to village, door to door, and tell people to vote for us,” he added, drawing applause from the 50 men and five women gathered at a restaurant in the mining town. “Jobs are on the line.” The SPD, which governs Brandenburg with the far-left Die Linke, could face calls from its own ranks to quit the federal coalition with Merkel if it loses control of the state.
“My father was a miner, my grandfather was a miner and they both told me: ‘coal brought the Lausitz to life and without coal the Lausitz will die out’,” said Uwe Neumann, 58, the owner of a landscaping business who was at the AfD event. “If those jobs go, thousands more will follow,” said Neumann. “Everyone here depends on those jobs for a living. The baker, the hairdresser, the plumber, everyone.”
A government-appointed commission in January proposed at least 40 billion euros in aid over two decades for regions affected by the coal phase-out, with a large chunk for the Lausitz. The problem for the SPD-led government in Brandenburg trying to act on those recommendations is that many in the state prefer sticking with coal than embracing change.
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