Germany's outgoing Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said German leaders will soon find a way to form a three-party governing coalition - dubbed "Jamaica" due to colors associated with the three parties involved.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Thys
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Wolfgang Schäuble, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), on Monday expressed confidence that Germany would soon get a stable government comprising the CDU, the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP).
"Let things play out. There will be a way," Schäuble told a special edition of German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. He added that a "Jamaica coalition" was just a matter of time, as "we need a stable government for our country."
The so-called Jamaica coalition, named because the three parties' traditional colors of black, yellow and green correspond to the Caribbean country's flag, is being seen as Chancellor Angela Merkel's best shot at forming a government after the Social Democrats ended their partnership with her CDU, following a dismal show in general elections last month.
But coalition talks are expected to be lengthy and tricky with the three parties having vast ideological and policy differences, including on immigration.
Foreign flags and even traffic lights are used to describe the various coalitions that emerge in German elections. Coalitions are common under Germany's proportional representation system.
Image: Getty Images
Black-red coalition
The Conservatives black combined with the traditional red of the political left is the color code when the Christian Democrats govern in a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. This combination of Germany's two "big tent" parties, was in power first from 1966-69 and most recently for eight years until 2021, led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: Odermann/IMAGO
Black and Green
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has teamed up with the ecologist Greens in several German states cooperating smoothly at the regional level. On the national level the two parties see eye to eye especially on strong support for Ukraine. They disagree on nuclear and renewable energy, and many conservatives despise the Greens for their multicultural and "woke" positions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Black, Red, Green — like Kenya's flag
The center-right CDU/CSU could also team up with the Greens and the center-left SPD. This three-way coalition would be an option for a comfortable majority. It has been tested on a regional level: The eastern German state of Saxony was governed by such a coalition until 2024.
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The Germany coalition — Black, Red and Yellow
The neoliberal FDP has been a junior coalition partner to both the center-right CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD. A three-way coalition was forged on the state level, for example in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. While this combination was touted as a possibility ahead of the 2025 vote, the FDP failed to get into parliament, ruling it out from any coalition building.
Image: Hoffmann/Caro/picture alliance
'Traffic light' coalition — Red, Yellow, Green
From 2021-2025 Germany was governed by a center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), ecologist Greens, and free-market-oriented 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: picture alliance/dpa/J.Büttner
'Jamaica' option — black, yellow and green
A three-way combination of Christian Democrats (CDU), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), has been tested at a regional level. But the FDP and Greens described their positions as irreconcilable following the collapse of the center-left government in November 2024. With the FDP's defeat in the 2025 election it will not be an option on the national level for the foreseeable future
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Black and Orange
Since 2018 Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) has been governing with the Free Voters (FV), whose color is Orange. The FV is a grass-roots populist and far-right-leaning party and is led by its controversial chairman Hubert Aiwanger. Strong in rural areas of southern and eastern Germany, the Freie Wähler is seeking a larger role at the national level and currently has three MEPs.
Image: Privat
Blackberry Coalition
CDU (black), SPD (red) and BSW (violet). The new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance's (BSW) color violet, seems fitting as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it did so well in the eastern German states that it entered a coalition government with the SPD and CDU in the state of Thuringia.
Image: Colourbox
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Dismissing refugee 'ceilling'
In the same interview, Schäuble also dismissed the importance of settling on a cap on the number of refugees coming to Germany every year. This has been a sticking point between some members of Merkel's CDU and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
The CSU calls for a ceiling on refugees, a demand that Merkel has repeatedly turned down. The Greens and the FDP similarly oppose any cap on migrants.
The 75-year-old conservative said the issue of a refugee cap does not need to be part of a possible coalition contract.
Schäuble also defended Merkel's open-door policy at the peak of the refugee crisis in 2015.
"Our children will be proud of the readiness to help shown by Germans during the refugee crisis," he said.
Lawmakers in Germany's other parties have accused the AfD of whipping up anti-foreigner sentiment and violating the country's political norms.
"Our free, democratic system based on the rule of law is so strong that nobody can wreck it, neither from within nor from without. Anybody who tries will fail," said Schäuble, who is Germany's longest-serving parliamentarian.
