German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday was to make a last push to forge a government, in a twin battle to save her political future and avert fresh elections that could destabilize Germany and Europe.
Elections in September left the veteran leader weakened and without a majority as some of her party’s voters turned to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party because of anger over her liberal refugee policy.
The disputed decision to let in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015 is also proving to be a stumbling block as she seeks an alliance with an unlikely group of parties spanning the left and right of the political spectrum.
Photo: Reuters
Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian allies the Christian Social Union (CSU), hoping to find common ground with the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens, gave themselves until yesterday to clinch a deal.
If they do not, Germany would have to hold new elections next year, as the center-left Social Democratic Party has ruled out returning to a coalition with Merkel after suffering a humiliating loss at September’s elections.
“Today is the last day of these exploratory talks. We must decide,” CSU leader Horst Seehofer said as he entered the talks in Berlin.
Greens leader Cem Ozdemir said that “so far we’ve been in extra time, but today it’s the penalty shoot-out.”
“Europe is anything but out of the crisis. Now it’s time to ask ourselves the question: Would France’s President [Emmanuel] Macron have to take the coal out of the fire because Germany is missing, or would Germany be capable of taking action?” Ozdemir said.
Merkel, who has years of grueling EU negotiations under her belt, now needs to see through what is likely the most important weekend of her political life.
“Today is not only about [the coalition], but also a day of destiny for Angela Merkel. If she fails to forge a coalition, then her chancellorship is in danger,” the top-selling Bild newspaper said.
An online poll by Welt newspaper found that 61.4 percent of those surveyed said a collapse of talks would mean an end to Merkel as chancellor, and only 31.5 percent thought otherwise.
Merkel, in power for 12 years, had initially set a deadline of Thursday to decide if the motley crew of parties had found enough common ground to begin formal coalition negotiations, but the talks went into overtime without a breakthrough.
Key among sticking points is the hot-button issue of immigration.
The CSU, which lost significant ground in Bavaria to the AfD and faces a crucial state election next year, wants to limit the number of future arrivals at 200,000 a year.
German media reports said the Greens were ready give way on the CSU’s demand, but in return, they insist that war refugees — who are granted only temporary protection — should be allowed to bring their family members to Germany.
“We will not accept that people who are already getting a lower status of protection by law are also excluded from family reunions. That is inhumane,” Greens negotiator Juergen Trittin told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier played down the conflict, telling the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that if negotiators are “battling hard over major questions like migration and climate change, that may not be a bad thing for democracy.”
There is “no need to start holding panic debates about new elections,” he said.
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