Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Greens (Germany)

  • What’s in Germany’s “Traffic Light” Coalition Agreement

    Olaf Scholz
    German finance minister Olaf Scholz attends a debate in parliament in Berlin, July 8, 2018 (Bundestag/Inga Kjer)

    Germany’s Social Democrats, Greens and liberal Free Democrats are ready to govern. Two months after the federal election almost to the day, they unveiled a 177-page coalition agreement that lays out their program for the next four years.

    Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Olaf Scholz, who would succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, described the deal as the “biggest industrial modernization of Germany in more than 100 years.” It calls for major investments in decarbonization and digitalization.

    Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Christian Lindner would succeed Scholz at the Finance Ministry, despite his party being the smallest in the “traffic light” coalition (named after the parties’ colors).

    The Greens get climate and foreign policy, and the right to nominate Germany’s next EU commissioner. (Unless the conservative Ursula von der Leyen is reelected as commission president.)

    Here are the highlights. (more…)

  • Outlines of a Green-Liberal Pact for Germany

    Germany’s Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) are taking the lead in forming the next coalition government.

    The two parties won a combined 120 seats in the election on Sunday, more than either the Social Democrats (SPD), who placed first, or the Union of Christian Democrats, who came in second. They would still need one of the two bigger parties for a majority. The Greens would prefer to team up with the SPD. The liberal FDP would prefer a coalition with the Union.

    The best way to avoid gridlock is for the smaller parties to do a deal first and then see whether the SPD or Union could support it.

    Here’s what such a deal might look like. (more…)

  • Merkel’s Party Loses German Election, Left and Liberals Gain

    • Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union lost the election on Sunday.
    • The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) became the largest party for the first time since 2005.
    • The Greens and liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) made gains.
    • Three parties will probably be needed to form the next German government. (more…)

  • What’s at Stake in the German Election

    German parliament Berlin
    Reichstag in Berlin, Germany (Unsplash/Fionn Große)

    Germans elect a new Bundestag on September 26. Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel is not seeking reelection after serving four terms. Her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is polling in first place, but the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens are not far behind.

    Three more parties (counting the union of Merkel’s CDU and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union as one) are expected to win seats: the center-right Free Democrats (FDP), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the far-left Die Linke.

    The outgoing “grand coalition” of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats may not defend its majority. More importantly, neither wants to form another two-party government after sharing power for twelve of the last sixteen years.

    All other parties rule out pacts with the AfD. The Greens, who are projected to be the biggest winners of the election, would be needed in all possible coalitions:

    • Union + Greens + FDP: Failed in 2017, when the liberals balked. Could be a modernizing, pro-EU government that seeks technological solutions to the climate crisis.
    • Union + SPD + Greens: Less attractive to the Christian Democrats on labor and tax policy, but the Union and SPD see eye to eye on protecting industries and jobs.
    • SPD + Greens + FDP: Makes less sense for the FDP, who would face opposition from the center- and far right.
    • SPD + Greens + Linke: Politically risky for SPD and Greens, who want to appear moderate, and difficult policy-wise on defense and foreign relations.

    Here’s where the four mainstream parties stand on ten of the issues at stake in this election. (more…)

  • Why Germany’s Greens Are on the Rise

    Annalena Baerbock
    German Green party leader Annalena Baerbock gives a speech in Berlin, February 17 (DPA/Kay Nietfeld)

    Germany’s Greens have for the first time in two years overtaken the ruling Christian Democrats in the polls. Two surveys in the last week gave them 28 percent support for the election in September against 21 to 27 percent for the center-right.

    Those polls are still outliers, but the gap between the parties has been narrowing across surveys for months.

    I suspect two factors are at play: leadership and a desire for change. I’ll take those in turn before laying out the different ways in which the Greens could take power. (more…)

  • Hessen State Election Confirms National Political Trends

    Frankfurt Germany
    Aerial view of Frankfurt, Germany (Unsplash/Jan-Philipp Thiele)

    Germany’s two largest political parties lost support in elections in Hessen on Sunday, a lightly populated state in the center of the country that contains the commercial capital of Frankfurt.

    The Christian Democrats went down from 38 to 28 percent support, according to exit polls. The Greens, who have shared power with the right in Hessen since 2013, went up from 11 to 20 percent — a major victory, which will probably make it possible for the two parties to continue their coalition.

    The Social Democrats, who govern with the Christian Democrats nationally, suffered yet another historic defeat. Their support fell from 31 to 20 percent, their worst result in Hessen ever. (more…)

  • German Free Democrats, Greens Drop Red Lines

    Germany’s Free Democrats and Greens have each dropped demands in order to make progress in coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

    Merkel has set a ten-day deadline to finish preliminary discussions and start negotiations to form a government.

    • The Free Democrats have accepted they will not be able to cut income taxes as much as they wanted.
    • The Greens no longer insist on fixed dates to shut coal-fired power stations and ban cars with internal combustion engines. (more…)

  • European Fears of “Jamaica” Coalition Are Overblown

    David Cameron Angela Merkel
    British prime minister David Cameron walks with German chancellor Angela Merkel outside his Chequers country residence in Buckinghamshire, England, October 9, 2015 (Bundesregierung/Guido Bergmann)

    A three-party “Jamaica” coalition in Germany may not be so bad for Europe as observers fear, writes Guntram Wolff of the Bruegel think tank in the Financial Times.

    He recognizes that the liberal Free Democrats are more Euroskeptic than Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the Greens. They have opposed Greek debt relief, are wary of a common eurozone budget and argue for strict enforcement the bloc’s fiscal rules.

    But that also applies to Wolfgang Schäuble, the outgoing finance minister. His likely Free Democratic successor could hardly be more hawkish.

    A Jamaica coalition (named for the colors of the three parties, which match the Caribbean nation’s flag) would be open to some of the other EU reform proposals French president Emmanuel Macron made this week, from enhancing defense cooperation to creating a single European asylum policy. (more…)

  • “Jamaica” Coalition Looks Like Only Option in Germany

    Angela Merkel
    German chancellor Angela Merkel attends a meeting with other European conservative party leaders in Brussels, December 13, 2012 (EPP)

    A three-party coalition of Christian Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens looks like the only possibility short of minority government in Germany.

    Such a combination, unprecedented at the federal level, is nicknamed “Jamaica” because the parties’ colors are black, yellow and green. (more…)

  • Center-Right Voters Eager to Govern in Germany, Center-Left Unsure

    Center-right voters in Germany hope Angela Merkel’s next coalition government will unite her Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats. But if the Greens are needed for a majority, they could live with that, the latest Deutschlandtrend poll shows.

    Green party voters are less interested in a three-party coalition but surprisingly supportive of a deal with the right: 68 percent would join a Merkel-led administration.

    The Christian Democrats are almost certain to remain the largest party, but it’s unclear from the polls if the Free Democrats will win enough seats to form a two-party government.

    The Social Democrats, the second largest party, aren’t desperate for another “grand coalition”. Half their voters would prefer to go into opposition rather than share power with Merkel for another four years. (more…)

  • Comparing German Party Platforms Reveals Two Divides

    David Cameron Angela Merkel
    British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel answer questions from reporters in Berlin, May 29, 2015 (10 Downing Street/Arron Hoare)

    Comparing the platforms of the six parties competing in the German election reveals two divides:

    1. The first is between the traditional left and right on spending and taxes. The Social Democrats, Greens and far-left Die Linke want higher taxes on the wealthy to fund public investment. The Christian Democrats, liberal Free Democrats and nativist Alternative argue for tax cuts.
    2. The second divide is between the four mainstream parties and the extremes on defense and foreign policy. The Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats all support closer European integration and NATO. The Alternative wants out of the euro. Die Linke would swap NATO for a security pact with Russia.

    Here is a closer look at where the parties stand on defense, Europe, immigration, spending and taxes. (more…)