German parties kick off exploratory coalition talks
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Germany’s leading political parties launched competing rounds of exploratory coalition talks on Sunday, aimed at winning over potential political partners to form the next government as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 16-years at the helm draw to a close.
Both the Social Democrats, who won the largest vote share in last week’s closely contested election, with about 25.7 per cent of the ballots cast, and Merkel’s Christian Democrats, who suffered their worst election result with 24.1 per cent, aim to woo the third- and fourth-place parties — the Greens, with 14.8 per cent of the vote, and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), with 11.5 per cent.
The fact that there were fewer than two percentage points between the two leading parties led both to claim the right to start exploratory talks. However, in order to lead the next government in Europe’s largest economy, both the SPD or conservative CDU would need to form an alliance with the two smaller parties. Most Greens favour joining a coalition with the SPD while the FDP has signalled its preference for partnering with the CDU.
The SPD negotiating team, led by chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, met the FDP team on Sunday afternoon and will meet the Greens in the evening. The FDP are scheduled to meet CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and his team on Sunday evening, while the Greens will speak with the conservatives on Tuesday.
Lars Klingbeil, the SPD secretary-general, described its bilateral talks with the FDP, as “constructive and very professional”.
His counterpart for the FDP, Volker Wissing, said it was “clear that there are some stumbling blocks. But what is also clear is that we are determined to form a reform government that will move our country forward”.
A majority of Germans appear to favour a “traffic light” coalition — named after the red, yellow and green colours of the parties — led by the SPD with the Greens and FDP. On Friday, a survey showed 51 per cent of Germans favoured the “traffic light” while only 18 per cent supported a CDU-led coalition.
Laschet insisted his party also has a right to lead exploratory talks, given the small difference between the SPD and CDU results — even though his party dropped 8.9 percentage points compared to the 2017 election.
A survey released on Sunday suggested his party’s popularity has fallen further since the vote, dropping three points to 21 per cent. The SPD gained two points to reach 28 per cent.
Following the indecisive results of last week’s election, the Greens and FDP have turned Germany’s usual process of coalition explorations on its head: They began negotiating with each other first, and plan to continue those talks in the hopes of reaching a consensus on which party they want to govern with. That could make them the kingmakers of the elections.
“Both parties stand for change, but not necessarily the same form of change,” Green co-leader Robert Habeck said on Friday.
FDP leader Christian Lindner hinted at growing impatience with the turbulence inside the Christian Democratic bloc, made up of both the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU. Over the past week, CDU-CSU leaders have sent mixed signals as to how much legitimacy they feel Laschet has to try to form a coalition, underlining the potential challenges he faces in leading a unified CDU-CSU bloc.
“Some of the CDU’s words suggest that negotiations with the SPD should fail first before the [CDU/CSU] comes back into play,” he told the German newspaper Bild. “Our country cannot be expected to do that. We are ready for serious talks with the [CDU/CSU] and hope for the same from them in reverse.”
Many Germany observers are worried coalition talks could drag on for months, particularly given the complexity of the outcome. But leaders from the four main parties involved all expressed optimism over the weekend that a new coalition could be formed by late December. After Germany’s 2017 elections, negotiations dragged on for six months.
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