&lt;p&gt;David and Helen are joined by Politico’s chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig to explore the consequences of the German elections.&amp;nbsp;Who were the real winners and losers?&amp;nbsp;Are there lessons for centre-left parties in other countries, including the Labour Party in Britain?&amp;nbsp;And what are the choices facing Germany as it decides on its place in an increasingly unstable world?&amp;nbsp;Plus we ask whether this was a Covid election.&amp;nbsp;If not, why not?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Talking Points:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What was surprising about the German elections?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;To expect something is different from seeing it actually happen.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Do campaigns make a difference to election outcomes?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;In this case, it looks like it did. It was pretty clear that Laschet was a poor candidate.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Laschet’s response to the floods was a turning point.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scholz prevailed because of his experience—he isn’t perceived as a change candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The SPD base has moved to the left, but Scholz is more of a centrist.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The CDU, on the other hand, was much less stable.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most German voters wanted change, and yet it is the continuity Merkel candidate who is most likely to become the next chancellor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;This reflects grand coalition politics. Merkel pushed the Christian Democrats into the space of the Social Democrats.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;But the initiative to form this government is coming from the change parties: the Greens and the FDP.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The parties seem to believe that their differences are bridgeable.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The two smaller parties are more popular among younger people.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Change might be driven from below.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The larger party only has about 26 percent; this gives the other parties more leverage.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What kind of change would be embraced by both the FDP and the Greens?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mentioned in this Episode:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/oh-the-delicious-schadenfreude-germans-grin-at-britains-labour-shortages-and-fuel-crisis-9xf9zwdbr" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Peter Tiede on German schadenfreude in the Times&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2021/sep/26/german-election-results-exit-poll-and-possible-coalitions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;The German election results&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-election-coalition-options/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;What are the coalition options after Germany’s election?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Further Learning:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/olaf-scholz-teflon-candidate-germany-election-2021/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Matthew Karnitschnig on Olaf Scholz, the ‘teflon candidate’&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ft.com/content/dab5f894-b914-4978-b962-a1a9c1cee985" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;More on Merkel’s legacy for the FT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/05/rethinking-german-policy-towards-china" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;More on Germany policy towards China&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ft.com/content/32a73baa-4ada-43cc-a2e6-8b2884634931" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Background on the Scholz money-laundering scandal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2021/317-after-merkel-what" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;Our most recent episode on Germany&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hear more of Matthew on Politico's podcast on European politics, &lt;a href="https://www.politico.eu/eu-confidential-podcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;EU Confidential&lt;/a&gt;, which he hosts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://lrb.co.uk/talking" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lrb.co.uk/talking&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &amp;#10;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '&gt;See &lt;a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'&gt;acast.com/privacy&lt;/a&gt; for privacy and opt-out information.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Become a member at &lt;a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics"&gt;https://plus.acast.com/s/talkingpolitics&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

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