Angela Merkel’s conservatives appeared headed towards coalition talks with their main centre-left rivals yesterday after heavyweights from the German chancellor’s camp ruled out a marriage with the environmentalist Greens.
Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), notched up their best result in more than two decades in a Sunday’s election, but finished five seats short of an absolute majority.
The Social Democrats (SPD) look most likely to team up with Merkel after her current coalition partner, the market-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), failed to clear the five per cent threshold to enter Parliament. The only other parties in the new Bundestag, or lower house, will be the Greens and the hardline Left.
“I won’t hold such talks (with the Greens). End of story,” said Horst Seehofer, leader of the CSU, which won landslide victories in both Bavaria’s state election on September 15 and in Sunday’s national poll.
“I can only say flirting with the Greens... would immediately strengthen the right wing,” he told the magazine Der Spiegel.
He was alluding to conservative fears that a leftward shift by the CDU-CSU could encourage more voters to switch to more right-wing parties such as the anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD), which narrowly failed to win seats on Sunday.
Merkel said on Monday she had already made contact with the SPD leadership, but did not rule out talks with other parties in the search for a stable government to steer Europe’s largest economy through the next four years.
The more conservative wing of Merkel’s bloc dislike the pacifist Greens, who favour big tax increases for the wealthy.
The CDU-CSU ruled with the SPD in a fairly effective ‘grand coalition’ led by Merkel from 2005 to 2009.
“The SPD is simply the bigger parliamentary group, so our first offer (of coalition talks) is to them. Given the campaign statements, that’s the right preference for me in terms of content too,” senior CDU lawmaker Volker Kauder said.
The SPD is simply the bigger group, so our first offer of talks is to them
Having suffered its second-worst post-war election result, the SPD is divided over whether to govern again with Merkel, with some saying the party should stay in opposition and focus on returning to power in 2017.
If it agrees to join a Merkel-led government, the SPD is likely to push for big concessions such as a national legal minimum wage and higher taxes on the rich. It may also insist on getting the finance ministry – replacing respected incumbent Wolfgang Schaeuble – and others such as the foreign and labour ministries.
SPD leaders will meet on Friday to discuss their options, but Kauder urged them not to drag their feet.
“Europe cannot wait for the formation of a government in Germany. We must be able to act,” he said.