This Saturday marks the 34th anniversary of the Pan-European Picnic, when East German refugees, attempting to defect to West Germany, were allowed to enter Austria by the Hungarian authorities. The Picnic is also a symbol of a borderless, free, united and Christian Europe.

The Christian Democratic Union in Germany has shifted to the left in recent years, which does not seem to be working out for them, while the far-right has got stronger. Can a change of leadership and incoming conservative Secretary General Carsten Linnemann reverse course? An analysis by Bence Bauer, head of the German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation at MCC.