Merkel in jeopardy as talks to form coalition fail
ANGELA MERKEL’S future was hanging in the balance last night after high-stakes talks to form a new government for Germany collapsed.
Citing irreconcilable differences, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) pulled out of the talks, meaning Mrs Merkel will either seek to form a minority government with the Greens or a new election will be held.
“Today there was no progress but rather there were setbacks because targeted compromises were questioned,” Christian Lindner, the leader of the FDP, said.
In a sombre press conference, held in the early hours of this morning, exhausted negotiators from the other parties expressed their regret. “We believe we were on a path where we could have reached an agreement,” said Mrs Merkel, who will contact Frank-walter Steinmeier, the German President, this morning to work out how to proceed. “It’s a day of deep reflection,” she added, claiming she would do everything she could to move the country forward.
Jürgen Trittin, of the Green Party, spoke of his party’s “shock”, saying that “there were opportunities for agreement”. It was “clear the country will have to live with a managing government for a long time for the first time,” Mr Trittin said.
Disagreements about immigration have been a major part of the discussions after Germany’s open-door policy to refugees in 2015, and the differences could prove irreconcilable.
Mrs Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and sister party, Bavarianonly Christian Social Union (CSU), sat down for gruelling talks with the FDP and the Left-leaning Greens throughout the weekend in the hope of forming a “Jamaica coalition”, so-called because the parties’ colours match those of the Jamaican flag.
Mrs Merkel had hoped to wrap up the talks, which began more than four weeks ago, by the end of the weekend in order to avert fresh elections that could destabilise Germany and Europe.
Wolfgang Kubicki, the vice-president of the FDP, had set a deadline of 6pm last night for the talks to conclude.
The failure of the talks is bad news for an increasingly vulnerable chancellor. “Today is a day of destiny for Mrs Merkel,” the Bild newspaper said yesterday before the deadline passed. “If she fails to forge a coalition, then her chancellorship is in danger.”
After September’s election, Mrs Merkel was left without a majority, as voters angered by her liberal refugee policy turned to the farright Alternative for Germany (AFD).
Her decision to let in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015 has become a stumbling block as she seeks an unlikely alliance spanning Left and Right of the political spectrum.