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Full -screen freedrich Merz, second from the left, meets his supporters on the party’s election vigil on Sunday. Photo: Michael Kappeler/AP/TT
After the German election, a government formation awaits where the second largest party is excluded from the negotiations.
– Actually, there is only one coalition on the table, says German political science professor Thomas Sommerer.
The Christian Democrats CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz will be judged by Germany’s next Chancellor. But first, it will be government formation: probably a reprise of a previously common arrangement in Germany, a large coalition between two parties.
The external right AfD is excluded from the negotiations, says Thomas Sommerer, professor of political science at the University of Potsdam.
– Mathematically, AfD can also be included in a coalition with CDU, but CDU has excluded, and there would be no support for it in society.
Can sell themselves dearly
So really, only Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic SPD is a possible coalition partner. This means that there may be conditions for a fairly simple government formation, he says.
– But maybe the Social Democrats will try to sell themselves dearly because they are the only option.
He points out that Scholz’s traffic lights with three parties had a very extensive and complicated coalition agreement.
– With two parts on the table, there are hopes that it will be a little easier.
Possibility of new start?
In the former government there were many different opinions – and also divide within Scholz’s own party – when it came to, among other things, how to behave Russia.
– It has been talked about that the relationship between Macron and Scholz has been very complicated, says Sommerer.
– Now there is the hope that Merz and Macron, who are both conservative and more moderate politicians, can have a better consensus, or at least an opportunity for a new start.