Why Germans live much better than Belarusians

There are many reasons for this. But one of them was clearly demonstrated to us the other day.

This photo was taken at the German Aerospace Research Center. The catchphrase from The Terminator: "I'll be back!"

Parliamentary elections were held in Germany on Sunday. it would seem that the parties included in the ruling coalition - the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats - can count on the favor of the voters. The country's economy is on the rise. EXPORT has updated its historical record - more than 1 trillion 200 billion euros. Unemployment, on the contrary, has reached its lowest level since the reunification of the country. The average wage is rising, the public debt is falling. The beauty!

Meanwhile, Angela Merkelbecame Federal Chancellor shortly after her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder , called Germany "the sick man of Europe". The Iron Lady managed to bring the economy out of the crisis. During the 12 years of Merkel's rule, the country's GDP grew by 21.1%, which is the highest figure in Europe over the same period.

In general, "Germany has never been so "fat and good" as it is now." It would seem that the Germans should show their gratitude by increasing support for the ruling parties.

An no. Although the ruling parties retained the first and second places, the voting results are unlikely to please them too much. The CDU / CSU bloc lost 8.5% of the vote, the Social Democrats lost 5.2% of their supporters and showed the worst result in the entire post-war history.

What's the matter? Most analysts are inclined to believe that the migrant crisis affected the election results. The policy of the authorities in this matter for a certain part of the voters turned out to be even more important than economic success.

This is also evidenced by the success of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany. For four years, she could not overcome the five percent barrier at all. Now the AfD has added almost 8% to the previous result and burst into the Bundestag with a roar. (Another beneficiary of the current election is the Free Democrats – they have about +6%).

Thus, Germany's voters "punished" the ruling parties not for doing poorly, but for not doing well enough. And this "whip" in the hands of citizens perfectly stimulates politicians to correct their mistakes and act even more effectively. But it works only in conditions of free elections.

And here… The most striking illustration is the 2015 presidential election, which took place against the backdrop of several devaluations of the national currency and a number of other problems. However, despite the current state of affairs, it was announced that ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO again won an amazing victory with numbers that Angela Merkel never dreamed of.

How the German Chancellor never dreamed of the powers “higher than the royal ones” that the President of Belarus has. However, Merkel managed to cope with the economic crisis in her country, while Lukashenka did not. And this is also very revealing: the concentration of power in one hand, as a rule, is a sure way to failure.

Now Angela Merkel faces difficult negotiations to form a ruling coalition. We will have to look for compromises with parties that have collected more than three times fewer votes, share ministerial portfolios, and make political concessions. Can you imagine Alexander Lukashenko in this role? He is unaware of these issues.

And with all that, Germany is developing much more successfully than Belarus. There are many reasons for this, as mentioned above. And, in particular, the most important factor is the difference between Belarusians and Germans: the former are satisfied with their authorities (at least they do not express their indignation openly), while the latter are not.

Meanwhile, discontent is the engine of progress. And, of course, free elections, where citizens can express it in a civilized way.