German elections: Far-right AfD falls short of first place in both German state elections – by Claire Stam

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieved historical gains in crucial elections in the eastern German states of Saxony and Brandenburg but Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU and its socialist coalition partner remain the strongest political parties, allowing the current grand coalition to hold until 2021.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) remain the strongest party in Saxony with 32% (down from 39,4% in the last elections in 2014), with the AfD and the German Greens (Bündnis90/Die Grünen) achieving their best election results in the history of Saxony regional elections (respectively 27,3% and 8,8% vs 9,7% and 5,7%). The Social-Democrats (SPD) came out with a record low of 7,9%, compared to 12,4% five years ago.

In Brandenburg, the state neighbouring Berlin, the SPD held on to the top spot with 27.2%, albeit down from 31.9% in the previous election in 2014, while the AfD rose to 22,7%, up from 12,2% in the last elections, and the Greens reached 10,2%, from 6,2% five years ago.

Left-Wing Die Linke, which has historically performed well in eastern Germany, turns out to be a big loser in both states where voters who traditionally chose the party as a form of protest clearly migrated to the AfD.

Read more: Far-right AfD falls short of first place in both German state elections – EURACTIV.com

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GERMANY: Angela Merkel's CDU elects Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) as the new CDU party leader

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final speech as leader of her party was met with an 11-minute standing ovation on Friday.

The address marked the beginning of her gradual exit from both German politics and the world stage. Merkel has led the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000, and been the country's chancellor since 2005.

“It is now the time to open a new chapter, it was a great pleasure for me, it was an honor,” Merkel said as she concluded her speech. Delegates held up signs reading: “Thank You, Boss.

”

Merkel, 64, later handed the baton to a successor at the party congress in Hamburg.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was widely seen as the chancellor's favorite and has been branded a "mini-Merkel" by some media outlets, was elected as her replacement on Friday.

Kramp-Karrenbauer — who often goes by her initials AKK — got about 52 percent of the vote in in a run-off with Friedrich Merz, a former lawmaker who left politics to work as a corporate lawyer.

German party leaders, including Merkel, have traditionally been selected through backroom deals and faced no competition during confirmation votes at party conventions.

But for the first time since 1971, CDU delegates were on Friday given the opportunity to elect their new party leader from among several candidates.

Like Merkel, Kramp-Karrenbauer represents the more moderate wing of their party. The 56-year-old (born 9 August 1962) is a mother of three who previously served as the governor of the small German state of Saarland.

The two other candidates who hoped to replace her for the CDU post had both openly criticized some of the chancellor’s policies in the past.

Jens Spahn, Germany's 38-year-old health minister, repeatedly spoke out against Merkel's open-door migration policy which resulted in the arrival of nearly a million refugees.

Read more: Angela Merkel's CDU elects Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as party leader

Germany - To be or not to be? :Germany’s Populist Temptation - by Sławomir Sierakowski

Because populism is not an ideology in itself, it can easily appeal to mainstream political parties seeking to shore up flagging electoral support. There are always politicians willing to mimic populist slogans and methods to win over voters, even if doing so divides their own party. This has been proven by Republicans in the United States, Conservatives and Labourites in the United Kingdom, and Les Républicains under the new leadership of Laurent Wauquiez in France.

But the most ominous manifestation of this tendency can be found in Germany’s Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union. The CDU/CSU’s weak showing in last year’s parliamentary election, combined with the unprecedented gains by the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has created new schisms within the party grouping.

Other than in the former communist states of East Germany, the AfD’s strongest performance was in the CSU’s stronghold of Bavaria, which will hold local elections in October. Defending its right flank against the AfD has thus become the CSU’s foremost concern.

But the most ominous manifestation of this tendency can be found in Germany’s Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union. The CDU/CSU’s weak showing in last year’s parliamentary election, combined with the unprecedented gains by the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has created new schisms within the party grouping.

Other than in the former communist states of East Germany, the AfD’s strongest performance was in the CSU’s stronghold of Bavaria, which will hold local elections in October. Defending its right flank against the AfD has thus become the CSU’s foremost concern.

But Seehofer has always come across as something other than a German conservative. In fact, he has served as a sort of political godfather to Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. And now he sees his own opportunity.

Since the day the new German government was sworn in, it has been clear that Merkel’s trademark tactic of neutralizing potential critics by including them in her cabinet would no longer work. Seehofer immediately launched a cold war within the governing coalition.

Read more: Germany’s Populist Temptation

Germany: Social Democrats sign up to new Merkel-led German government - by Thomas Escritt, Michelle Martin

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) decisively backed another coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on Sunday, clearing the way for a new government in Europe’s largest economy after months of political uncertainty.

Two thirds of the membership voted“yes” to the deal in a ballot — a wider margin than many had expected. That means Merkel could be sworn in for a fourth term as early as the middle of the month, in a repeat of the grand coalition that has governed since 2013.

Read more: Germany Social Democrats sign up to new Merkel-led German government

Angela Merkel′s CDU approves grand coalition deal

The chancellor's conservative party has given a green light to forming a new government with the Social Democrats. But despite the harmonious front, the internal tensions in the party are impossible to ignore.

Read more: Angela Merkel′s CDU approves grand coalition deal | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 26.02.2018

Germany: Merkel calls for younger ministers in new government

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for younger members of her party to fill ministerial positions in the new government.

"We need to ensure that not only the over-60s are considered but also younger people," she told German TV.

She also defended "painful" concessions made to the the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) to clinch a coalition deal.

The deal followed months of wrangling after an inconclusive election.

However it still needs to be approved by the SPD's 460,000 members, with the result due in March.

On Friday SPD leader Martin Schulz abandoned a plan to serve as foreign minister in the new government, saying he did not want debate about his role to jeopardise the new coalition.

"Now we need to show that we can start with a new team," Mrs Merkel said. The CDU has six ministerial posts to fill.

Read more: Germany: Merkel calls for younger ministers in new government - BBC News

Germany: EU relieved after Merkel clinches grand coalition deal - by Eric Maurice

Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) concluded a coalition agreement on Wednesday (7 February), taking a step closer to ending a five-month long period of political limbo in Berlin.

The deal, under which the two partners will share what they considered as the most crucial ministries for themselves, will however to be approved by SPD members in the coming weeks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats will occupy the ministries of interior, defence, agriculture, economy and health.

The sensitive interior portfolio - with the management of migration policies - was expected to go to Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CSU, the CDU's Bavarian branch. Seehofer, a hardliner, has been one of the main opponents of Merkel's migration policy since 2015.

Peter Altmeier, one of Merkel's closest allies, and finance minister since September, was expected to become economy and energy minister.



The finance ministry has been attributed to the SPD, with Hamburg's mayor Olaf Schorf being the favourite for the post, also as vice-chancellor.



Social Democrats will also get the ministries of labour and social affairs, justice, as well as foreign affairs for Martin Schulz, Merkel's opponent in the elections last September.


Schulz meanwhile will quit the SPD leadership and be replaced by Andrea Nahles, the leader of the party's group in the Bundestag.

Read more:  - EU relieved after Merkel clinches grand coalition deal

Germany formation of new government: German SPD votes for coalition talks with Merkel's CDU

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) voted on Sunday, January 21,  to begin formal coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, moving Europe’s economic powerhouse one step closer to a stable government after months of political deadlock.

SPD delegates voted by 362 to 279, with one abstention, to press ahead with negotiations. The center-left party’s leaders had agreed a preliminary coalition blueprint with Merkel’s conservative bloc earlier this month.

A recount was held after an initial show of hands was too close for the SPD official in charge of the count to call.

Just before delegates voted, SPD leader Martin Schulz made an impassioned plea for a ‘yes’, telling them their decision was being watched across Germany and Europe.

Read more: German SPD votes for coalition talks with Merkel

Germany: German coalition talks reach breakthrough: A look at what comes next

The all-nighter appears to have focused minds: Germany's two biggest political parties — the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — announced on Friday morning that they had made a breakthrough in their exploratory talks, paving the way to formal coalition negotiations and, if all goes to plan, another iteration of the grand coalition.

The new agreement represents an important stage victory in the marathon negotiations for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who would certainly prefer a grand coalition to the other two options currently on the table: heading an unstable minority government, or a new election.

Should the negotiations with the SPD fail, a new election could well usher in the end of Merkel's time in office, as her CDU attempts to revive its fortunes following its worst election results ever. Her party took 32.9 percent in September's election, a drop of 8.6 percentage points on the 2013 result. This has resulted in much self-reflection in the party, along with speculation that Merkel's era was drawing to a close — and even debate about potential successors.

Read more: German coalition talks reach breakthrough: A look at what comes next | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 12.01.2018

Germany: Formation new Government; Merkel and Schulz aim to wrap up initial talks by mid-January – by Janosch Delcker

Angela Merkel’s conservatives and Martin Schulz’s Social Democrats want to wrap up their first inner-circle talks on forming Germany’s next coalition government by January 12, in what will be the chancellor’s last chance to form a stable government.

Top party officials from Merkel’s CDU, its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and Schulz’s SPD met Wednesday to discuss the timeline of the talks. They agreed exploratory talks would begin on January 7, with negotiators hoping to present the results to their party faithful five days later. Schulz

had tweeted Tuesday that he did not expect the talks to take off until after a CSU party summit on January 6.

“It was a good conversation in an atmosphere based on trust,” the three parties said in a joint statement about the meeting.

Read more: Merkel and Schulz aim to wrap up initial talks by mid-January – POLITICO

Germany′s Angela Merkel and SPD assess chances for grand coalition

Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), is set to meet Social Democrats (SPD) leader Martin Schulz on Wednesday evening for the first unmediated discussions about whether to extend the country's current "grand coalition" government.

After their worst electoral performance in post-war German history, the SPD is wary about signing on for another stint as the junior partners to the CDU, along with their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). Indeed, Schulz twice categorically dismissed another grand coalition before being forced to change his position.

"It certainly wasn't a very good idea to rule out entering into another grand coalition so soon," political scientist Lothar Probst of Bremen University told DW. "But naturally the SPD still feels the pains of two grand coalitions in nine years, and many members of the grass roots — and not only there — feel that another one would be to their detriment."

Read more: Germany′s Angela Merkel and SPD assess chances for grand coalition | Germany | DW | 13.12.2017

Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel moves left as German politics realign

Earlier this year, with the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) coming off a string of regional election triumphs, most observers expected Angela Merkel to become more conservative. Some within her own parliamentary bloc indeed demanded she do just that. But the opposite has happened. If anything, the chancellor and the CDU-CSU have maneuvered further left.

Part of the reason is the dictates of electoral numbers. The results of the September 24 national election meant that, with the extremes of the AfD and the Left party being deemed off-limits, Merkel's only viable coalitions involve either the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) or the left-wing environmentalist Greens. There is no non-left path to power.

But changes to political culture and Merkel's own personal inclinations have also encouraged realignment and effectively shifted the center further to the left. It was part of the accepted wisdom in Germany in the last 30 years that the conservatives' natural allies were the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), which has leaned towards the conservatives as coalition partner since the early 1980s, but had been in a coalition with the SPD before that.

Read more: Chancellor Angela Merkel moves left as German politics realign | In Depth | DW | 24.11.2017

Germany's Schulz under pressure to enter coalition talks- by Eszter Zalan

Pressure is increasing on Martin Schulz, leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD) to end the political stalemate in Germany and enter coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

The SPD leader will meet the country's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, himself hailing from the SPD, on Thursday (23 November).

Steinmeier has been meeting party leaders following the collapse of coalition talks on Sunday between Merkel's political bloc, the pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens.

Merkel said she would prefer snap elections than leading a minority government following the Free Democrats walkout from coalition talks on Sunday night.

Schulz, who ran against Merkel in the general elections, first ruled out re-entering a grand-coalition with Merkel's CDU/CSU that left the SPD with its worst election result since the second world war.

 Read more: Germany's Schulz under pressure to enter coalition tal

German Political Update: Merkel’s Choice - by Holger Schmieding

Seven weeks ahead of the German election on 24 September, Chancellor Angela Merkel can take it easy. She looks set to comfortably win a fourth term in office. The real questions are which coalition partner she will choose and whether that choice will make any difference.

For some aspects of domestic policy, the choice may matter a little. But the German approach to the bigger questions of foreign and European policy including European reforms and Brexit will probably not change in any major way regardless of Merkel’s choice of coalition partner.

In opinion polls, support for Merkel’s centre-right CDU/CSU has stabilised around 39%, 15 points ahead of the centre-left SPD led by Merkel’s challenger Martin Schulz.

Four other parties are on course to clear the 5% threshold and enter the federal parliament with roughly 8% each: the centre-left Greens (7.9% support on the average of the last seven polls), the ultra-left Left Party (8.7%), the liberal FDP (8.4%) and the right-wing AfD (8.1%).

As all other parties will shun the AfD, some combination of the other parties will form the next federal government. A coalition will need just above 47.5% of the popular vote for a majority of seats in parliament.

The two hypothetical alternatives to a Merkel-led government, a SPD-Green alliance with either the Left Party or the FDP, would command only 40.1% or 39.8% of the vote, respectively. They would thus fall at least seven points short of a majority.

Read more: German Political Update: Merkel’s Choice - The Globalist

Germany's CDU reelects Angela Merkel leader with lowest support since she became chancellor

Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has won reelection as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union.

It will be her ninth term as chairwoman.

The only candidate in the running, Merkel gained 89.5 percent of the votes cast at the CDU congress – her worst result as chancellor and her second-worst performance in a vote concerning her.

Ahead of the ballot, she made an effort to appease the conservative wing of the party.

“We do not want any parallel societies, and where they exist we have to tackle them. Our laws have priority over honor codes, tribal and family rules, and over Sharia law…

That also means that with inter-personal communication, which plays a crucial role, we show our face. This is why the full-face veil is not appropriate and should be outlawed wherever it is legally possible – it does not belong to us.”

Read more: Germany's CDU reelects Angela Merkel leader with lowest support since she became chancellor

Germany: Merkel down—but not out—in Germany - by Holly Ellyatt

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered one of her largest political setbacks at the weekend after her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party saw sharp losses in regional elections with many conservative voters punishing Merkel for her refugee policy.

Exit polls from broadcaster Deutsche Welle following the Sunday vote showed that the CDU lost ground in the Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland Palatinate, and Saxony-Anhalt regions where elections were held.

The party came second in two out of the three states having suffered strong losses in Rhineland Palatinate (where the center-left Social Democratic Party won) and Baden-Wurttemberg (where the Green party won) and only retaining its lead in Saxony-Anhalt.

Speaking on Monday, Merkel said the election results marked a "difficult day" for the CDU and that the refugee policy was a "dominant issue" in the election, Dow Jones reported. However, she said the number of migrants had decreased in the region but that she was convinced that a European-wide solution was still needed.

The party's losses come amid the dramatic rise in support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party which claimed 24.3 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt and, surprisingly for a three-year old party, saw a dramatic rise in support in the other regions.
Read more: Merkel down—but not out—in Germany

Germany: Merkel reaches coalition deal with Social Democrats - by Jessica SALTZ

Berlin Brandenburg Tor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to form a coalition government with the Social Democrats early on Wednesday morning, two months after her conservative party won elections but fell short of a full majority.

Germany’s two biggest political forces negotiated through the night and reached a breakthrough at about 5am (4am GMT).

Two months after Merkel’s election victory and a month after coalition talks began, the agreement, if ratified, would enable her to form a government by Christmas – if the SPD gets approval from its 474,000 party members.

The outcome of the rank-and-file postal ballot remains far from certain because many SPD members reject the notion of their traditionally blue-collar party again governing in the shadow of Merkel, as it last did 2005-09.

After that uneasy political marriage, the SPD scored two humiliating electoral defeats in a row and won less than 26% against the conservatives' nearly 42% in the September 22 ballot.

In the protracted talks, the SPD scored a major victory on its core demand, a minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($11.50) per hour from early 2015.

The move aims to narrow a wealth gap brought about by decade-old labour reforms but should also cheer critics in the US, the IMF and Europe who want the export-power to stimulate domestic demand and correct its lopsided trade balance.

The SPD also pushed through a demand for a 30% women's quota on the boards of listed companies from 2016, and an easing of a ban on dual nationality, a key demand of Germany's large Turkish immigrant community, sources said.

Both sides also agreed on pension increases to protect retirees in rapidly ageing Germany, where many elderly are growing scared of suffering poverty in old age.

Read more: Merkel reaches coalition deal with Social Democrats - GERMANY - FRANCE 24