German warning to SPD and Stačilo!
One of Europe's unstated values is that democracy is so precious that undemocratic methods may be used to defend it. U.S. Vice Pres. JD Vance complained at the Munich Security Conference "that the situation has gotten so bad that this December, Romania straight-up canceled the results of a presidential election" and also that the "organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing parties on both the Left and the Right from participating in these conversations." Vance's comments about a retreat from fundamental values received a lot of coverage, but if the goal was to interfere in the German elections on behalf of these parties on the Left and the Right, the VP achieved limited success. AfD came in second but won't be in the next government, and Sahra Wagenknecht's left-wing BSW just missed the 5% threshold. It was a solid victory for European-style democracy and gives hope to Czechs like Vít Rakušan who might want to save democracy by using undemocratic methods to keep Andrej Babiš out of power. In this light, the German elections are a stark warning for SPD, Stačilo!, Motoristé and Přísaha.
Glossary of difficult words
precious - of great value; not to be wasted or treated carelessly;straight-up - (in this context) completely; outright;
stark - unpleasantly or sharply clear.