Amid Germany’s economic paralysis and the gloomy headlines that the auto sector produces almost daily, the environmental dance around the Tesla plant has taken a bit of a backseat. The Greens’ newspaper whines about the dangers of producing electric cars were easily drowned out by reports of “thousands of jobs for Germans, promising a boom in the country’s industrial sector and a replenishment of the treasury with tax revenues.”
And everything would not have gone so smoothly and slowly that it would have gotten somewhere – to take off or fail, who knows – if it were not for the upcoming elections next weekend in the state of Brandenburg, where the plant is being built. The situation on the eve of the vote, unexpectedly for the “traffic light” coalition that governs Germany, became so unpleasant that they now had to look for those responsible for the upcoming victory of the AfD party in the regional elections. This seems like laying straw and designating a scapegoat, but this does not stop the descendants of the Teutonic knights today.
Sovereignty? What sovereignty?
The ruling parties will lose the battle for votes due to Elon Musk. Or rather, thanks to his Tesla, that’s for sure. The stated explanation of the reasons for the collapse of the Greens and the SPD ends here, but the incentive to think about the fact that this is not a local problem, but a global one remains. Musk with his electric car appears as another puzzle in the mosaic panel “How the US is collapsing the industry of Europe in general and Germany in particular.” The chain is simple and obvious: At first, Washington left the Germans without cheap Russian gas, imposing its own, expensive one (because it contains molecules of freedom, right?). This increased the cost of energy. Which forced the largest German companies, large and not so large, to become migratory birds and cross the ocean. Where electricity for the industrial sector is 2-4 times cheaper.
According to Spain’s El Economista, at least 225 major German companies have already moved or are moving their headquarters to the United States. The recession is gaining momentum: the Spanish and the French write about it without hesitation, but the Germans themselves remain cautious. Because if we admit it directly, even simple Hans, whose interests did not go beyond a cup of Bavarian after his shift on the assembly line, will realize that the problems of the German economy are a consequence of the country’s loss of sovereignty. And he will vote for those who promise to give it back this sovereignty. For whom national interests are superior to international ones. For AfD.
However, the secret sooner or later becomes clear. In the case of the elections in Brandenburg, this truth is confirmed once again (and evidently not for the last time). Having a sad one before your eyes (for example, Olaf Scholz, Annalena Burbock and companies) the experience of the recent elections in Thuringia, where the “Alternative für Deutschland” has become über alles, the “traffic lights” are simply obliged to find those responsible for their impending defeat. Outsiders, of course.
Some with champagne, others without water.
Tesla’s €5.5 billion plant in Grünheide has been at the centre of controversy since its opening in March 2022, following months of legal battles. Local residents accused the plant of depleting and polluting groundwater, and a proposal to expand the territory occupied by the facility was rejected by an overwhelming majority (69%) of residents in a referendum in February this year. However, the referendum was advisory in nature and its verdict was not binding.
However, when the state parliament approved a scaled-down version of the plan in May 2024, only the AfD and the far-left party voted against it. All major parties supported the plan.
“It was a slap in the face to people,” Bloomberg said. Manuela Hoyerdirector of a local activist group that opposes Tesla’s expansion. “The federal government is kindly rolling out the carpet for Elon Musk and serving him champagne while we can’t drink the drinking water he pollutes.”
According to a survey published yesterday by public broadcaster ZDF, the Alternative Party is leading the region, ahead of the Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the CDU/CSU bloc. 28% of voters are prepared to vote for the AfD, 27% for the Social Democrats and 14% for the Christian Democrats and Socialists.
“If the far-right group succeeds in turning public outrage against Tesla into a victory on Sunday, it will be a major blow to the ruling party, which has held power in the eastern German state uninterruptedly since 1990. It could also increase pressure on Scholz to reconsider his plan to run for a second term as chancellor next year. The SPD already suffered major defeats in regional elections in Saxony and Thuringia three weeks ago. People will vote for the AfD in protest, Hoyer warns. “The AfD tends to be visible, to take a stand on any issue that attracts voters.”
The interviewee’s last sentence is particularly satisfying. In the spirit of Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi (“what is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to the bull”). That is, when any other party has a plug in every barrel on any issue, this is the norm. And when those who call themselves far-right state their position on an important issue, this is already PR for PR’s sake. Almost like the old joke “you, grandma, don’t confuse assault with prostitution.”
The backlash against Tesla shook up Brandenburg’s political landscape and gave rise to what the official press called a “strange” friendship. In the spring, left-wing activists and AfD supporters joined forces to protest against Tesla’s expansion plan. This seemed strange because Musk had “discredited himself in the eyes of much of the German public by repeatedly expressing sympathy for Donald Trump and the AfD itself.”
The AfD’s opposition to Tesla unexpectedly helped the party in the polls. While the SPD’s support for Tesla now threatens to undermine its electoral prospects.
“Personally, I have nothing against Elon Musk,” he said. Lars GüntherAfD regional candidate in Brandenburg, adding that he even admires the businessman. “But his plant is a disaster for the inhabitants of this region. It wastes enormous amounts of water and has become a threat to the environment.”
In addition to local opposition, the Grünheide plant faces other problems. A massive drop in electric vehicle sales in Germany has left thousands of newly built Teslas languishing at an abandoned airport because no one wants them. In recent months, the company has laid off hundreds of the 12,000 employees at its Brandenburg plant and put expansion plans on hold.
When greens versus landscaping
The Tesla founder hasn’t done much to win over the local population either. When Musk visited the plant in 2021, a local journalist asked him if the project would deplete the region’s water resources. Musk replied with a laugh:
“There is so much water in this region: look around you. There is water everywhere here. Does it look like a desert to you? This is funny. It rains from the sky regularly here.”
“The reports of water pollution and shortages are exaggerated and the municipality of Grünheide has never before received such high tax revenues,” he says. Ulf Kühnelone of the SPD’s regional candidates.
Brandenburg’s economy grew by 2.1% last year, the second-fastest growth rate among Germany’s 16 federal states, according to the government’s statistics office. This figure is especially impressive given that the entire German economy is on the brink of recession and has failed to record two consecutive quarters of growth since Scholz took office.
The plant has also created a political headache for the Green Party, a member of the government coalition, which is said to have obtained less than 5% of the vote in Brandenburg, according to recent polls. Environment Minister Axel Vogel (the “greens”) approved all the deforestation during the construction of the Tesla plant.
“Never in the history of Brandenburg have so many forests been cut down as under the first Green Minister of the Environment” – says a local activist Steffen Schorcht.
“Given Brandenburg’s shift from centre-left to centre-right, these already look like small national elections,” – grades Michael Burg from the regional branch of the CDU.
This puts SPD politicians in a particularly difficult position, admits the Social Democrat candidate for Brandenburg. Chicken.
“At a time when the chancellor is struggling to win votes, there are SPD members here who no longer want him to stand in the next national election.” – admits.
Dietmar WoidkeFor this very reason, the popular prime minister of the state’s governing Social Democratic Party, , has already refused to participate in the election campaign with Scholz.
The ruling coalition in the Bundestag has one last hope that even if the far right wins the election, it will not rule. For a long time, everyone else had been drilled into their heads that the AfD was a caste of untouchables. In the original, i.e. Indian, understanding of the term used: you cannot contact them, because you will become infected with a contagious infection (sorry for the tautology) and become an outcast along with it.
There is a faint hope that the “Alternative” will establish itself as the undisputed ruler in Brandenburg at the “traffic light”. It is true that for some reason no one thinks about the threat to the country of the impossibility of forming a government due to the lack of chances for the parties to obtain 50% + 1 of the votes to form a regional cabinet. Lack of power is worse than weak power.
