Fresh hope for Merkel as sister party backs coalition

HOPES were raised for an end to Germany’s political impasse yesterday as Horst Seehofer, leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s sister CSU party, said a renewed grand coalition was “the best option” for the country.

In a difficult week, Ms Merkel fought to save her political career and avoid snap elections, after negotiations between her Christian Democrats (CDU) and smaller parties broke down more than four weeks after they began.

The Social Democrats (SPD) had previously ruled out entering into another “grand coalition” with Ms Merkel, after it suffered its worst ever result in the elections in September.

However, Martin Schulz, leader of the SPD, back-pedalled and offered Ms Merkel talks on Friday. “An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than ‘Jamaica’, new elections, or a minority government,” Mr Seehofer told the ‘Bild am Sonntag’ newspaper yesterday.

The “Jamaica coalition” would involve the CDU, Free Democrats and Greens, whose party colours match those of the Jamaican flag.

Referring to the previous grand coalition, Ms Merkel said at a party conference on Saturday: “We did a good job. We worked well together.” Talks with the SPD, which were due to begin yesterday evening, would be based on “mutual respect” and “compromise”, said Ms Merkel (right).

The Young Union (JU), the joint youth organisation of the two conservative union parties, has said Ms Merkel, Mr Seehofer and Mr Schulz have until Christmas to form a grand coalition. “If there is no agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD by this time, the negotiations are to be regarded as failed,” it decided on Saturday, according to ‘Bild am Sonntag’. Paul Ziemiak, the head of the JU – which wields clout over the parties and claims to be the largest youth political organisation in Europe, with around 120,000 members – told the ‘Bild’ newspaper: “If the SPD does not agree, the union must seek a minority government.” The German public are also apparently in favour of such a coalition, with 52pc saying they would like a repeat, according to an Emnid survey for ‘Bild’. Failed talks between the conservative union parties, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the left-leaning Greens broke down when the FDP stormed out of discussions last week, citing irreconcilable differences.

But Ms Merkel said on Saturday she was determined to get a new government in place as soon as possible to avoid fresh elections, which she fears could strengthen the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

AfD has claimed credit for the political turmoil, which has left Ms Merkel’s authority diminished and created instability in Europe’s largest economy. (© Daily Telegraph, London)