Germany: Merkel Party Agrees to Start Coalition Talks with Election Losing Social Democrats, Make Concessions to Greens While Snubbing AfD

The two establishment parties in Germany have agreed to a framework for coalition talks to form the next government in Berlin that looks set to be dominated by leftist and environmentalist demands despite the voters clearly rejecting such policies last month.

While the Social Democrat Party (SPD) suffered a humiliating result in February’s federal elections of just 16.4 per cent, they have been artificially inflated by likely incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who vowed before talks began that he would not form a government with the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), thus handing all the cards to the ousted SPD.

Merz, who leads the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formerly of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel, had promised a “new” kind of politics during the campaign. However, like many of his pledges to the public, this appears to have been cast to the wayside.

Despite running as a fiscal conservative, Merz immediately abandoned his vow not to raise the debt, agreeing with the leftist SPD to amend the German constitution to borrow a trillion euros to finance defence upgrades.

Even though the SPD has long called for the so-called “debt brake” to be lifted, the party still demanded that in exchange for agreeing to sorely needed investments into the military, Merz would have to agree to an equal amount spent on various infrastructure projects favoured by the left-wing party.

Similarly, the supposedly centre-right Union is also set to make concessions to the left on immigration, with the previous government’s moves to allow for dual nationalities for non-EU citizens to remain and to keep the cuts in the time needed to become citizens, NTV reports.

While Merz ran on a strict border agenda, the agreed-upon framework would only allow officials to block the entry of illegal migrants attempting to claim asylum into the country at physical border stations.

Even this mild-mannered approach may be in doubt, however, with the SPD demanding that neighbouring countries agree to Germany’s terms. Austria has already said that it does not intend to cooperate, throwing the plan into jeopardy before it even gets off the ground.

To make matters worse, Merz looks also set to be held to the whims of the far-left Green party, which played second fiddle in the previous coalition government.

Although the Greens do not look to be returning to government, their votes will likely be needed to amend the debt-brake law, requiring a two-thirds vote in the Bundestag. Given the opposition from both the hard-left Die Linke party and the AfD to the measure, the Greens have already begun to seize the opportunity to claim concessions from Merz on climate initiatives.

For his part, Merz appears ready to give ground to the Greens to secure the spending package, saying that the government will “of course include climate protection measures” in the infrastructure part of the legislation. Merz also signalled that his government would reinstate subsidies to incentivise the purchase of electric cars.

Merz’s concessions resulted from his refusal to even consider coalition talks with the populist Alternative for Germany, which won its best-ever result in last month’s elections and is closer to the CDU on key issues such as immigration. Yet, Merz has branded the party “extremist” and vowed never to work with them.

Responding to the framework unveiled by the Union and the SPD, AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said that it was an “agreement to the detriment of Germany” full of “vague promises and formulaic compromises in migration policy full of reservations and backdoors.”

The AfD leaders said that the agreement bore the “signature of the election loser SPD”, adding that “for this pitiful result, the Union betrayed its voters, widened the debt floodgates and damaged the constitution.”

The process of forming a government is typically lengthy in German politics, however, Merz and his allies are hoping to see him become chancellor by Easter.

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