Merkel begins talks to form government ‘with optimism’
● Negotiations on power sharing likely to take several weeks
Chancellor Angela Merkel has opened talks with the Social Democrats on forming a new government “with optimism”, as leaders stressed the need for speed as they try to break the deadlock more than three months after elections.
Mrs Merkel’s conservative Union bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats have run Germany together for the past four years.
But the Social Democrats vowed to go into opposition after a disastrous election result on 24 September. The party only reluctantly reconsidered after Mrs Merkel’s attempt to build a coalition with two smaller parties collapsed in November.
The effort to form a government has already become Germany’s longest since the Second World War. Leaders are aiming to decide by Friday whether there is enough common ground to move on to formal coalition negotiations. This would require approval by a 21 January congress of the Social Democrats, many of whom are deeply suspicious of another coalition.
Those negotiations, if they happen, would probably take weeks and the Social Democrats have promised to ballot members on any coalition deal that is reached.
If the parties do not form a coalition, the only remaining options would be for Mrs Merkel’s conservatives to lead an unprecedented minority government or a new election.
Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz has said some form of support for a minority government is an option for his party but Mrs Merkel has made clear she wants a coalition.
Polls suggest another election would produce a similar result to the last one.
The road to either a minority government or a new election involves President Frank german Walter Steinmeier, who so far has opposed a fresh vote.
“I think we can succeed,” Mrs Merkel said as she arrived for the talks. “We will work very quickly and very intensely... and always have in mind what people in Germany expect of us – they of course expect of politicians that they solve their problems.
“I am going into these talks with optimism but it is clear to me that a huge amount of work lies ahead of us in the coming days.”
Mr Schulz said his party would take a “constructive and open-ended” approach to the talks.
“We are not drawing red lines but we want to implement as many red policies as possible in Germany,” he said, referring to the party’s colour.
“Germans are entitled to have this go quickly.”
Shortly before Christmas, Germany beat its previous record of 86 days – set in 2013 – for the time from an election to the swearing-in of a new government.
Possible stumbling blocks on the way to a lasting coalition agreement include the issue of migration.
The conservatives want to maintain a block that bans migrants granted a status short of full asylum from bringing their closest relatives to Germany, while the Social Democrats want to end it.
The two sides could also clash over the Social Democrats’ call to reform the health insurance system and their differing ambitions for the European Union.
Mr Schulz recently advocated aiming for a federal “United States of Europe” by 2025, which goes too far for conservatives.
The 24 September election produced a parliamentary majority for only two plausible coalitions – the outgoing alliance of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, with the Social Democrats, or an untried combination of the conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens.