Germany’s conservative election winner Friedrich Merz yesterday vowed to get to work on the arduous task of building a new coalition government, warning “the world is not waiting for us.”
Merz has warned against more paralysis in Berlin at a time when US President Donald Trump is driving head-spinning change, the German economy is in recession and society split after a polarizing election campaign.
Speaking late on Sunday, his victory dampened by a far-right surge, Merz said a united Europe must build up its own defenses as he had “no illusions at all about what is coming out of America.”
Photo: AFP
With more than 28 percent of the vote, his Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria bloc handily defeated German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, as the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany celebrated a record of more than 20 percent.
Following a heated campaign — dominated by the flashpoint issue of immigration after a spate of deadly attacks blamed on migrants — Merz now has to reach out to his former campaign-trail SPD foes. The conservatives will first enter talks without Scholz, who apologized for a “bitter” defeat at 16 percent, while his popular defense minister, Boris Pistorius, was expected to play a more central role.
In a TV debate late on Sunday, Merz said that he had been right to fight a “very tough election campaign” in which, on the eve of the vote, he had fumed about undefined “left-wing crazies.”
“But now we will talk to each other,” Merz said, striking a far more conciliatory tone. “We have to form a stable government as quickly as possible, with a good, stable majority.”
Merz must seek to establish communications with Trump, who has unsettled Ukraine and its European backers by reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the same time he must enter a process of horse-trading on party policies and red lines to hammer out a platform for a governing alliance.
“These are difficult starting conditions for a new German government, which is facing Herculean tasks in domestic and foreign policy,” said Cornelia Woll of the Hertie School Berlin. “One might hope that Germany will nevertheless be able to act quickly, so that it does not just have to watch how Trump and Putin shape the future.”
In an early positive response, Trump congratulated the conservatives on their win, describing it as “a great day for Germany, and for the United States.”
“The people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration,” said Trump, whose surrogates have hounded Scholz’s outgoing administration.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that he looked forward to working with Merz for a “strong and sovereign Europe.”
“In this period of uncertainty, we are united to face the great challenges of the world and of our continent,” he wrote on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also congratulated Merz, saying he looked forward to working with Germany to “strengthen Europe.”
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS