Greens, Christian Democrats hold talks as former looks to join Social Dems’ government

As the German Bundestag works to forming a government, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will today hold exploratory talks with the Green Party.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won Germany’s recent parliamentary elections with 25.7% of the vote, followed by the CDU at 24.1%. Neither of the country’s two major parties hold enough seats to form a government without the support of the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), both smaller parties with fairly opposing economic agendas. The Greens favor the SPD as a coalition leader, but the CDU likely hopes to emphasize agreement on environmental and foreign policy to see where they can find common ground.

Ultimately, it’s unlikely that a coalition agreement will materialize from the talks. The Greens and the FDP are expected to agree to back the same party despite differences in their agendas. Both have enough policy agreements with the SPD, which has also shown itself willing to compromise with the FDP on economic matters. The coming coalition then, will likely adopt a centrist stance on taxes and monetary policy given the probable inclusion of the FDP, but priorities such as increasing investment in education and strengthening institutions in the EU will receive greater policy attention.

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