Anyone who runs a company feels politics before any poll does. It arrives as a deadline, a funding programme, a tax assessment or a law you wait two years for. That is why I write about it, from the point of view of someone who has been building companies in Germany for over 20 years and sees every day how decisions made in Berlin land in the business.
Why majorities are getting harder
To me, democracy means winning majorities for your own proposals. That has become harder. In the 1998 federal election the CDU/CSU and the SPD together won 76.1 percent of the party vote, in 2025 it was 44.9 percent. They still hold a majority in the Bundestag with 328 of 630 seats, because parties below five percent receive no seats. The AfD and Die Linke together reached 29.6 percent in 2025, up from 5.1 percent in 1998.
For companies this means government formation takes longer, coalitions need more partners, and every compromise takes longer to reach the statute book. How this works under Article 63 of the Basic Law and what a business feels in the meantime is covered in the post on government formation. Why many people feel let down by the political centre and what the centre now has to deliver is the subject of political discontent in Germany. Understanding is not agreement: explaining why people turn away does not endorse where they turn to.
How opinion is formed today
A growing share of news reaches people through social media. 44 percent of 18 to 24 year olds in Germany name it their most important news source in 2026, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, analysed for Germany by the Hans-Bredow-Institut. What they see there is sorted by software optimised for time spent. What the research actually shows about algorithms and radicalisation, and what I take from it as an entrepreneur, is in the post on social media algorithms.
Who speaks for business
Lobbying can be looked up. The Bundestag's lobby register shows what business associations spend on their work in Berlin, and it also shows who is missing: the BDA and the DIHK are not in it. According to the BDA, around one million companies are connected through the employers' associations, and more than three million companies are compulsory members of a chamber of commerce or a chamber of crafts. Who speaks for solo self-employed people and freelancers is far less clear. The analysis is in the post on the lobby register.
What guides me
One simple question guides me: what does a political centre need to win majorities again? A state that is seen to act, decisions people can follow, and burdens that feel fair. The posts below are the long version.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does an entrepreneur write about politics?
Because political decisions land directly in the business: as a deadline, a funding programme, a tax or a law that keeps you waiting. Anyone who understands how majorities form plans better and sees earlier what is coming.
What does a long government formation mean for companies?
Until the new budget is passed, provisional budget management under Article 111 of the Basic Law applies. Funding already approved keeps being paid out, while new programmes usually start only once the budget is passed.
Why does forming a government take longer today?
Because the CDU/CSU and the SPD no longer hold a majority of the party vote together: they reached 44.9 percent in 2025 and 76.1 percent in 1998. Coalitions therefore need more partners, and every partner brings its own commitments to the negotiating table.
What stance is behind the posts?
A political centre that is able to act and wins majorities for its proposals: with a state that makes its decisions easy to follow, and burdens that feel fair.