Ido Vock

Ido Vock lives in Berlin. He was previously a senior journalist at the BBC

Is Friedrich Merz up to the task of fixing Germany?

As was widely predicted, Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has won Germany’s federal elections with around 28 per cent of the vote. For the first time since the formation of the Federal Republic in 1949, a far-right party – the Alternative for Germany (AfD) – has come second in a national election, winning an unprecedented fifth

Will Austria’s asylum seeker surveillance plan backfire?

Austria’s interior minister has announced plans for mass surveillance of Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers in response to a terrorist attack. The incident, which took place on Saturday, saw a Syrian allegedly stab one person to death and injure five others in Villach. According to police, the man –whose rampage was cut short by another

Will the Munich attack lead to a crackdown on asylum seekers?

Another day, another apparent attack by an asylum seeker in Germany. In Munich, a 24-year-old Afghan is alleged to have driven a Mini Cooper into a trade union demonstration. At least 28 people have been injured, 11 seriously, according to police. The alleged driver of the car, Farhad N, reportedly came to Germany in 2016