Merkel’s misery as talks fail
Germany heads for political crisis as efforts to form government flounder
ANGELA Merkel appeared to be overwhelmed last night as Germany headed for a political crisis.
Head in her hands, the chancellor was the picture of misery in the German parliament after coalition talks to form a majority government collapsed.
Ms Merkel has been embroiled in cross-party policy negotiations to attempt to continue her 12-year reign. The political future of Germany is now unclear as she is said to prefer a fresh round of elections in January over governing with a minority. Fears have been expressed that the instability could affect Brexit negotiations, as Ms Merkel will be tied up with the domestic situation.
Senior colleagues of Ms Merkel yesterday called on her to resolve the political crisis quickly. Parties were told to put their differences on hold in order to find a solution as it could cause international instability. The talks chiefly broke down over immigration policies.
Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, addressed the German parliament yesterday. ‘Europe needs a Germany that is capable of acting,’ he said. ‘Agreeing by giving ground to each other takes courage... The task is huge, but it’s not unsolvable.’
Ms Merkel has said she prefers new elections to an unstable minority government. Until a government is agreed, she continues as acting chancellor and previous ministers remain in post, while the newly elected parliament also proceeds with business.
Pressure is growing on the leftof-centre Social Democrats (SPD), whose leader Martin Schulz has refused to contemplate re-entering a Merkel-led government after voters punished them for sharing power with her for the last four years. Many in the SPD fear that another four-year term with Ms Merkel, who is herself still popular, would be political suicide for their party.
Chancellery chief Peter Altmaier appealed to the SPD to reconsider: ‘Like “Made in Germany”, we are known for having a stable and reliable government... we must give the SPD a chance to think.’
But Andrea Nahles, head of the SPD’s parliamentary group, reiterated that it did not want to prop up Ms Merkel again.