German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday was left scrambling to drag the nation out of crisis after high-stakes talks to form a new government collapsed, potentially forcing Europe’s top economy into snap elections.
Germany now faces weeks, if not months of paralysis with a lame-duck government that is unlikely to take bold policy action at home or on the European stage.
However, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier yesterday urged the various parties to reconsider their positions and make it possible to form a new government, adding that he would meet with them this week and urged them to rethink.
Photo: AFP
Merkel had been forced to seek an alliance with an unlikely group of parties after the ballot left her without a majority, but following more than a month of grueling negotiations, the leader of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), Christian Lindner, walked out of talks overnight, saying there was no “basis of trust” to forge a government with Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU-CSU) alliance and the Greens.
“It is better not to govern than to govern badly,” Lindner said, adding that the parties did not share “a common vision on modernizing” Germany.
Voicing regret for the FDP’s decision, Merkel vowed to steer Germany through the crisis.
“As chancellor... I will do everything to ensure that this country comes out well through this difficult time,” she said.
News magazine Der Spiegel called the breakdown in negotiations a “catastrophe” for Merkel and said Germany, long seen as an island of stability, was having its “Brexit moment, its [US President Donald] Trump moment.”
The Greens angrily deplored the collapse of the talks, saying they had believed a deal could be done despite the differences and accusing the FDP of negotiating in bad faith.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about Germany’s political deadlock, saying: “It is not in our interest that the situation becomes tense.”
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
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