Merkel optimistic about new coalition for new political era
January 8, 2018
Germany's Angela Merkel has said she is optimistic about forging a deal with the Social Democrats to form a new "grand coalition" government. However, all leaders agreed that the new era requires a new political style.
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured that her Christian Democrats (CDU) would "work very swiftly and very intensively" at forming a new coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), as preliminary negotiations got underway in Berlin on Sunday.
"I think that it can be done," said the chancellor as she walked in for talks with SPD leader Martin Schulz and Horst Seehofer, the leader of Merkel's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
Although Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc has run Germany with the SPD as a junior partner for eight of the past 12 years, the three leaders vowed on Sunday that new government needed a new style of politics.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday evening after talks had concluded for the day, Lars Klingbeil of the SPD said: "The three party leaders made it clear in their opening statements that given the election results, we can't just go on as before."
Klingbeil added: "The global political situation, the situation in Europe, the composition of the German Bundestag, all that show that we find ourselves in a new era. And this new era needs new politics."
Those feelings were echoed by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), who on Sunday evening said that Europe had to be at the center of a new coalition agreement between Merkel's conservative Union and the Social Democrats.
Speaking to German broadcaster ARD, Gabriel said that the parties had made the mistake in 2013 of placing too much emphasis on domestic policy and not enough on Europe. It was finally time to respond French President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for the European Union, Germany's top diplomat said — something Schulz has endorsed as part of his calls for a common European constitutional treaty by 2025.
However, Germany's vision of a future Europe and attitude to towards Macron's proposals remain a major sticking point in the talks, alongside immigration and a proposed compulsory state health insurance scheme.
While Merkel expressed her optimism, the Social Democrats adopted a more constructive tone following the talks as they hope to drive a hard bargain to extract key concessions, despite their own weakened negotiating position.
"We're not drawing any red lines, but we want as many red policies in Germany implemented as possible," Schulz said, in a reference to the SPD's party color.
Michael Groschek, a negotiator for the Social Democrats, insisted that the coalition talks were "open-ended" and that the party would also tolerate a minority government if talks were to break down — an unprecedented event in modern German political history.
However, after Merkel's first attempt to form a ruling coalition government with the Free Democrats (FDP) and Green Party failed back in November, another coalition with the SPD remains the only feasible option open to the chancellor, aside from the never-before-used option of a minority government.
A history of Germany's coalition governments
Only once has federal Germany been ruled by a single party with a parliamentary majority. Coalitions are, therefore, the norm. DW looks at the various governing combinations that have presided in the Bundestag.
Image: Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS
CDU-SPD (2025-?)
Yet another coalition of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the center-left Social Democrat Party (SPD) has taken office on May 6, 2025. Both the CDU and the SPD have dwindled in recent years, so there is now no talk of "grand coalition" as they embark on a mission to save Germany's economy from decline and society from further polarization.
Image: Florian Gaertner/IMAGO
SPD-Green Party-FDP (2021-2024)
From 2021 until late 2024, Germany was governed by a center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), ecologist Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), whose color is yellow. The government known as "Ampel" (traffic light) in Germany, started out as a self-declared "Fortschrittskoalition" (progress coalition) but got mired in infighting and became the least popular government ever.
Image: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture alliance
CDU/CSU-SPD (2013-2021)
After taking more than 40% of the vote, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives probably weren't expecting to rule with the SPD. However, her old allies, the FDP failed to meet the 5% threshold to enter the Bundestag, and options were limited. Merkel called on the SPD to join her and "take on the responsibility to build a stable government." She made the same speech again four years later.
Image: Maurizio Gambarini/dpa/picture alliance
CDU/CSU-FDP (2009-2013)
The SPD, part of the outgoing coalition, picked up a disappointing 23% in the 2009 federal election. The Free Democrats, by contrast, won more than 14% of the vote. Chancellor Angela Merkel (center) and the FDP's Guido Westerwelle (left) formed a coalition with relative ease. It was, after all, Germany's 11th CDU/CSU-FDP government.
Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance
CDU/CSU-SPD (2005-2009)
"Grand coalitions" do not come easily. When the first exit polls came in, both Gerhard Schröder (left) and Angela Merkel (right) declared themselves the winner. In the end, Merkel's conservatives defeated the SPD by just 1%. Germany's two largest parties agreed to form the country's second-ever grand coalition, and Schröder left politics.
Image: Stefan Sauer/dpa/picture alliance
SPD-Green Party (1998-2005 )
In 1998, the CDU/CSU lost a general election and SPD candidate Gerhard Schröder (left) became chancellor, heading a center-left government with the Green Party. Joschka Fischer of the Greens took over the Foreign Ministry.
Image: Andreas Altwein/dpa/picture-alliance
CDU-DSU-Democratic Awakening (1990)
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany held its first free election. The Christian Democrats under Lothar de Maiziere took over 40% of the vote. They went into coalition with two small parties: German Social Union and Democratic Awakening, whose members included one Angela Merkel. In October that year, the government signed the reunification treaty with West Germany.
Image: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
CDU/CSU-FDP (1982-1998)
The friendship between the SPD and FDP ended as the two parties' differing ideologies became irreconcilable in the early 1980s. The liberals again switched sides, seeking a deal with the conservatives. They formed a new CDU/CSU-FDP coalition under the leadership of Helmut Kohl (pictured), who remained chancellor for 16 years until well after German reunification.
SPD-FDP (1969-1982)
Willy Brandt (left) became Germany's first Social Democratic chancellor in the postwar period. The CDU/CSU was the strongest party, but Brandt struck a deal with the FDP to secure a narrow majority in the Bundestag. This wouldn't be the last time the FDP would be called out for a lack of loyalty. In 1974, Brandt was replaced by Helmut Schmidt (right), who went on to win two more elections.
Image: Sammy Minkoff/picture alliance
CDU/CSU - SPD (1966-1969)
The first-ever "grand coalition" was not the product of an election. Ludwig Erhard was re-elected in 1965 and continued to rule alongside the FDP who left the government in the following year over budget disputes. Erhard also resigned and Kurt Kiesinger (center) was chosen to take over. With the FDP out, he governed with the center-left Social Democrats, led by Willy Brandt.
Image: UPI/dpa/picture-alliance
CDU/CSU-FDP (1961-1966)
After four years of ruling West Germany on their own between 1957 and 1961, the conservatives lost their majority in the Bundestag and were forced to enter into coalition with the Free Democrats again. Adenauer resigned in 1963 for his part in the so-called "Spiegel" scandal. His economic affairs minister, Ludwig Erhard (left), was elected by parliament to take over.
Image: Alfred Hennig/dpa/picture-alliance
CDU/CSU-FDP-DP (1949-1961)
The first democratic government to govern West Germany since the end of World War II saw Christian Democratic Union leader Konrad Adenauer form a governing coalition with the Free Democrats and the German Party (a now-defunct national conservative party). It had a very slim majority. Small coalition partners fell by the wayside, eventually leaving the CDU/CSU to govern alone.
