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Bloomberg
German Chancellor Angela Merkel outlined her post-election agenda, saying she’ll seek a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens while keeping her options open on further integration of the euro area. Thirteen days after an election that sent support for her Christian Democratic Union-led (CDU) bloc to the lowest level since 1949, Merkel faced criticism of her policies by delegates at a CDU youth convention who said she’s straying from the party’s conservative roots and demanded she rejuvenate her cabinet.
While polls suggest that Merkel, 63, retains broad
support among her bloc’s supporters, the contentious meeting in Dresden points to the forces buffeting the chancellor as she seeks to build a fourth-term government after 12 years in office.
Before that, she needs to settle a resurgent conflict with her Bavarian sister party over limits on migration.
“This might seem like squaring the circle, but with a bit of goodwill it should be possible,†Merkel said of calls by Bavaria’s Christian Social Union party for an upper limit on migration, which she again rejected during her speech in Dresden.
And “it’s clear that difficult negotiations lie ahead†with the FDP and Greens, she said.
Taking up calls by French President Emmanuel Macron for more integration in the euro area, Merkel stuck to her stance that the role of a joint finance minister for the currency union needs to be defined first.