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: Reuters
CDU/CSU - FDP - DP (1949-1957)
The first democratic government to rule 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). When Adenauer's conservatives won re-election four years later, he once again turned to the same coalition partners.
Image: picture-alliance/Vack
CDU/CSU - FDP (1961-1966)
After four years of ruling West Germany on their own between 1957 and 1961, the conservative Union 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 Minister of Economic Affairs Ludwig Erhard (left) was elected by parliament to take over
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
CDU/CSU - SPD (1966-1969)
The first ever "grand coalition" was not the product of an election. Ludwig Erhart was re-elected in 1965 and continued to rule alongside the FDP. However, the following year the Free Democrats left the government over budget disputes. Erhart also resigned and Kurt Kiesinger (right) was chosen to take over. With the FDP out, he governed with the Social Democrats, led by Willy Brandt (left).
Image: dpa
SPD - FDP (1969-1982)
Willy Brandt became Germany's first Social Democratic chancellor in the post-war period. Despite winning fewer votes than the CDU/CSU, Brandt struck a deal with the FDP to give them a narrow majority in the Bundestag. It wouldn't be the last time the liberals would be called out for a perceived lack of loyalty. In 1974, Brandt was replaced by Helmut Schimdt, who went on to win two more elections.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
CDU/CSU - FDP (1982-1998)
The 13-year friendship between the SPD and FDP ended in 1980 as the two parties' differing ideologies became irreconcilable. The liberals again switched sides that year, dropping out of the coalition and seeking a deal with the conservatives. That caused the SPD-led government to collapse and a reborn CDU/CSU-FDP coalition formed under the leadership of Helmut Kohl (pictured).
Image: AP
CDU - DSU - Democratic Awakening (1990)
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany held its first ever elections. The Christian Democrats under Lothar de Maiziere took over 40 percent 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: picture-alliance/dpa/Wolfgang Kumm
SPD - Green Party (1998-2005)
In 2002, Helmut Kohl's 16-year rule came to an end and the Social Democrats under Gerhard Schröder returned to power. The SPD formed a coalition with the Green party, who became a governing party less than 20 years after being founded. Unlike under Brandt, the SPD now led a left-wing government, rather than a center-left coalition. The SPD-Green party coalition remained in power until 2005.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/W. Baum
CDU/CSU - SPD (2005-2009)
"Grand coalitions" do not come easily. When the first exit polls came in, both Schröder (right) and Angela Merkel (left) declared themselves the winner. In the end, Merkel's conservatives defeated the SPD by just 1 percent. Germany's two largest parties agreed to form the country's second-ever grand coalition.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Bensch
CDU/CSU - FDP (2009-2013)
The "grand coalition" experiment ended in 2009, after the SPD picked up a disappointing 23 percent in the federal elections. The Free Democrats, by contrast, gained almost 5 percent to give them over 14 percent of the vote. Merkel 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: Getty Images/A. Rentz
CDU/CSU - SPD (2013-?)
After taking more than 40 percent of the vote, Merkel's conservatives probably weren't expecting to rule with the SPD. But with her old allies the FDP failing to meet the 5 percent threshold to enter the Bundestag, 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.
