The mood in Olaf Scholz’s SPD party headquarters in Berlin is despondent this morning. The German Chancellor’s party won just 13.9 per cent in the European elections – placing them third in the country and a full two percentage points behind the far-right AfD party.

The SPD hasn’t done this badly in a national vote since 1949 – and the result comes less than 18 months until Germany holds its federal election. SPD Leader Lars Klingbeil called it a ‘bitter defeat’. ‘There is no way to sugarcoat it,’ he said. ‘I think it is crystal clear that things have to change.’

The SPD hasn’t done this badly in a national vote since 1949

At the AfD’s Berlin election night party, on the other hand, the mood was one of jubilation. The party did even better than the polls had predicted, making it the second-strongest party in the country. Despite several scandals plaguing its two lead candidates, in the former East German states the AfD did even better. There it took the largest vote share of any party – certain to give it a boost, both in morale and numbers, at the upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony in September. The party’s co-leader Tino Chrupalla called the win........

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