William Cook

Angela Merkel’s new coalition is united by fear of AfD

Here we go again. More than four months after Germans went to the polls and gave both main parties the thumbs down, Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have finally agreed the terms of yet another Grand Coalition. True, the CDU and the SPD are still Germany’s two biggest parties. Between them they still command (just) over 50 percent of the national vote. But it’s a bitter irony that these two centrist parties are back in power together, after both recorded their worst election results since the war.

Barring a catastrophe or a miracle (depending on your point of view) Angela Merkel will be Chancellor again, for a fourth term, but her centre-right CDU has made some big concessions. The SPD has retained control of the Foreign Affairs and Labour Ministries. It has also taken charge of the crucial Finance Ministry. Frau Merkel may be a fiscal conservative by instinct, but the people controlling her purse strings are now firmly on the left.

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