Merkel secures fourth term in power after SPD backs coalition deal

Angela Merkel has secured her fourth term in power after Germany’s Social Democratic party (SPD) agreed to form another “grand coalition” government with the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

The SPD announcement ends almost six months of uncertainty in German politics, the longest the country has been without a government in its postwar history, and puts Europe’s largest economy in a position to answer the challenges for EU reform laid down by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Congratulating the SPD for its “clear result”, Merkel said she was looking forward to “further cooperation for the good of our country,” according to a tweet attributed to her on her CDU party’s account. Macron’s office welcomed the decision, saying “this is good news for Europe.”

But with both Merkel’s party and the SPD facing internal calls for a programmatic reboot and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) now the biggest opposition party in parliament, the new government’s stability will likely be tested.

When the Social Democrat treasurer, Dietmar Nietan, announced on Sunday morning that a majority of SPD members had given the green light to a new “GroKo” or “grand coalition”, it was met with quiet relief rather than enthusiastic applause.

“We now have some clarity,” said the Social Democrats’ caretaker leader, Olaf Scholz, a contender for the role of finance minister, speaking at Willy Brandt House in Berlin, the party’s headquarters. “The SPD will enter into government.”



Source: theguardian

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