In France, the government closely monitored these German elections.
Emmanuel Macron dreams of forming with Angela Merkel a historic and strong partnership to relaunch the European Union.
Similarly, on defense issues, Angela Merkel is on the same page as Paris: a ‘permanent structured cooperation’ could soon be officially notified.
These elections and the coalition that will be established are going to have a significant impact in Europe. The withdrawal of the Social Democrats (SPD) will likely lead to a change in tone in Berlin regarding migration policy, relations with Turkey, or potential reforms of the Eurozone.
On Sunday, September 24, Angela Merkel’s CDU emerged victorious, though with a disappointing score, in the German federal elections.
The SPD (center-left) suffered a historic setback, while the far-right AfD party made a dramatic entrance into the Bundestag. The question now is what coalition the German chancellor will have to establish to govern.
The Social Democrats failed to rally around the theme of social justice, their main platform, in a country experiencing strong growth, with unemployment at a record low.
The question now is that of the future coalition needed to enable the chancellor to govern. Indeed, Martin Schulz’s SPD immediately refused to continue the grand coalition in power since 2013 due to the setback experienced.
It is therefore toward the liberals and the greens that Angela Merkel should turn. However, the chancellor is about to perform a balancing act as the differences between environmentalists and liberals on the future of diesel or immigration are expected to be very challenging to manage.
