Germany’s Greens to hold party congress ahead of coalition talks
Germany’s Green Party will today hold discussions about which parliamentary bloc it will form a coalition with in the Bundestag.
The federal election on Sunday resulted in a narrow victory for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which received 25.7% of the vote, over Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU-CSU), which received 24.1% — its worst-ever performance. Without a clear majority, the SPD or CDU-CSU will need the support of the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) to form a government.
The Greens and FDP are inclined to an SPD and CDU-CSU majority respectively. However, in a sign of the changing political environment in Germany, the Greens and FDP will seek an agreement on backing one major party.
Both minority parties are expected to ultimately back the SPD. The SPD and the Greens seek to raise taxes on the highest earners, while the FDP seeks lower taxes. To compromise, the SPD will name an FDP official the finance minister. SPD’s chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholtz, is moderate, which will further convince the right-leaning FDP. It is the SPD’s ambition to form their government by January, in time for Germany to lead the G7 group of nations.
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