BERLIN — Germans have enjoyed a long holiday from history, but it looks like their vacation is over. That was the impression I got while traveling through Germany last month before the federal election. I was struck by how abnormally normal the country seemed: prosperous, democratic and tolerant. While other European societies are torn apart by anxiety and anger, in Germany a vast majority of citizens are satisfied with their economic situation. The government has more euros to spend than ever before, unemployment is almost nonexistent, and the tone of the electoral campaign differed from the last American election in the way a family drama differs from a horror movie.
OP-ED
Ivan Krastev: Germany’s problem is Europe’s problem
Luai Khatun, a 15-year-old refugee from Lebanon, looks out a window in the small eastern village of Clausnitz, in Saxony on Nov. 3, 2016.
