In the German Bundestag, an exchange took place that says more than any speech about the state of mind in Europe. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that "Ukraine has been defending itself and fighting for its freedom for more than four years now" - and from the benches of the far-right AfD came laughter.

Merz, visibly irritated, did not let the moment pass. He turned directly towards them from the rostrum: "This is a clear sign, ladies and gentlemen. You laugh at this, you laugh at the fate of millions of people in Ukraine, and then you travel to Moscow for meetings where champagne is served." A single sentence that, in one stroke, tied the laughter in the chamber to the politics outside it.

The AfD, founded in 2013, advocates in foreign policy for lifting sanctions against Russia and cutting off military aid to Kyiv. What was once a marginal position now carries weight - the party currently leads national polls with around 29 percent support. The laughter in the chamber, in other words, isn't the voice of the margins, but of nearly a third of voters.

And here is what the Balkans knows well. When attitudes towards war and peace become an occasion for laughter in parliament, it isn't just decency being lost - it's a sign that a society no longer agrees even on the basic facts. Was the laughter aimed at Merz, at Ukraine, or at the very idea that someone is fighting for freedom? The answer to that question sets the direction in which a whole country is heading.