After all of that schadenfreude, Germany is now experiencing its own Brexit moment

Over the past year and a half, German media has demonstrated a bit of penchant for schadenfreude. “Well done, Little Britain!” quipped left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung on the morning after the Brexit vote, proving that even Berliners – for all their stereotypical humourlessness – can be sarcastic when called upon. Tabloid Bild-Zeitung went with headlines that loosely translated as “This is how Cameron cocked it up” and – more succinctly – “Ouch”, while Der Spiegel grandly sniped: “Europe is Dead, Long Live Europe?”

Fifteen months on and it could be said that Germany is experiencing its own Brexit moment. Of course, it’s much too early to speak of a full-blown shift towards protectionism, and headlines about “Little Germany” and Merkel “cocking up” would be unjustified for now, but Merkel clearly has a problem worthy of its own indelicate commentary from Fleet Street and Co.

In Sunday’s election, the Chancellor of 12 years secured a relatively convincing fourth term in office but her Christian Democratic Union haemorrhaged support to the Alternative for Germany party. Overall the AfD garnered 13 per cent of the vote, giving it enough support to become the first far-right party to enter the country’s parliament in more than half a century. The CDU and the Social Democrats suffered their worst results since 1949 and 1933 respectively, and in eastern Germany the AfD’s gains were even more impressive.

In fact, in the five states that became part of a reunified Germany in 1990, the AfD surpassed the vast majority of expectations to take just shy of 23 per cent of the vote, putting the party almost in the same ballpark as the 27.6 per cent who backed Merkel’s CDU. That might prove a particularly bitter pill to swallow for Merkel who – although she was born in the west – grew up behind that Iron Curtain.

Merkel now faces the Herculean challenge of cobbling together a government, which will most likely be a three-way tie-up between her own party, the liberal Free Democrats and the Greens – a so-called Jamaica coalition, because the colours of the parties correspond to those of the Caribbean country’s flag.

It’s never been done in Germany before – though you’d be forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu when reading about an upset head of state being caught off guard by an unexpected surge in populism. Hobbled and bruised, the Social Democrats, who had served with the CDU as junior partners for the past four years, said they were going into opposition.

What’s happening in Germany – like what occurred in the UK in June 2016 and in the US in November last year – is symptomatic of swelling discontent and a fierce backlash against migration and globalisation. Voters who feel underrepresented or threatened are biting back aggressively.

If you’re looking for a common denominator to what we in the UK are dealing with and what Germany has woken up to, look no further than Nigel Farage and the standing ovation Mr Brexit elicited when he spoke at one of the AfD’s pre-election rallies earlier this month. He was hailed as an example of what a Eurosceptic politician can achieve if they put their mind to it. He served as a reminder that, despite far-right parties in France and the Netherlands failing to fly, there’s always a way so long as there’s a will.

Our collective decision to quit the EU certainly dealt a fierce blow to the concept of a shared European dream. But Germany under Angela Merkel – arguably one of the architects of the bloc in its current form – will have to work hard to avoid administering the next pounding. Schadenfreude can make for great headlines. But it might be karma that enjoys the last laugh.