Europe`s politically supercharged year has ended with a jolt of excitement as Germans went to the polls on Sunday.
It had been dubbed a "sleep campaign" and all different shades of "boring" by the German media, and it was widely expected that markets would react with a big fat "gähn" (German for yawn).
However, what we got was a stark reminder that the populist threat is a real one, as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party entered parliament with 12.
6 percent of the vote, making it the first far-right party to enter the German Bundestag since 1960.
This strong showing sent shockwaves through Germany`s political and business elite and was widely seen as a backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel`s "open door" refugee policy.
While Merkel will continue to govern for a fourth term, her party`s support fell to its lowest level since 1949, making the task of forming a coalition a much tougher one this time around.
The euro fell slightly against the dollar overnight Sunday before recovering some losses.
It had been dubbed a "sleep campaign" and all different shades of "boring" by the German media, and it was widely expected that markets would react with a big fat "gähn" (German for yawn).
However, what we got was a stark reminder that the populist threat is a real one, as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party entered parliament with 12.
6 percent of the vote, making it the first far-right party to enter the German Bundestag since 1960.
This strong showing sent shockwaves through Germany`s political and business elite and was widely seen as a backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel`s "open door" refugee policy.
While Merkel will continue to govern for a fourth term, her party`s support fell to its lowest level since 1949, making the task of forming a coalition a much tougher one this time around.
The euro fell slightly against the dollar overnight Sunday before recovering some losses.
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