Merkel’s coalition government deal faces final hurdle
Chancellor Angela Merkel finally reached a deal Wednesday to form a new German coalition government, handing the powerful finance ministry to the country’s main center-left party in an agreement aimed at ending months of political gridlock.
The center-left Social Democrats’ leaders now have one last major hurdle to overcome — winning their skeptical members’ approval of the deal.
Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, and the center-left Social Democrats agreed after a grueling final 24 hours of negotiations on a 177-page deal that leads off with the promise of “a new awakening for Europe.”
“I know that millions of citizens have been watching us closely on this long road over recent weeks,” Merkel said. “They had two justified demands of us: First, finally form a government — a stable government — and second, think ... of people’s real needs and interests.”
The coalition deal could be “the foundation of a good and stable government, which our country needs and many in the world expect of us,” she added.
Germany has already broken its post-World War II record for the longest time between its latest election on Sept. 24 to the swearing-in of a new government. That is still at least several weeks away.
Merkel currently leads a caretaker government, which isn’t in a position to launch major initiatives or play any significant role in the debate on the European Union’s future, led so far by French President Emmanuel Macron.
A key role in the EU is particularly dear to Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, a former European Parliament president.
On Wednesday he declared that, with the coalition deal, Germany “will return to an active and leading role in the European Union.” The agreement states, among other things, that Germany is prepared to pay more into the EU budget.
Before addressing Europe’s future, Schulz faces hard work at home.
The coalition accord will be put to a ballot of the Social Democrats’ more than 460,000 members, a process that will take a few weeks. Germany’s highest court said Wednesday it had dismissed a series of complaints against the ballot.
Many Social Democrats are skeptical after the party’s disastrous election result, which followed four years of serving as the junior partner to Merkel’s conservatives in a so-called “grand coalition.” The party’s youth wing vehemently opposes a repeat of that alliance.
If Social Democrat members say no, the new coalition government can’t be formed. That would leave only an unprecedented minority government under Merkel or a new election as options.
On the conservative side, Merkel needs only the approval of a party congress of her CDU, a far lower hurdle.