Merkel kicks off make-or-break bid for new government

Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’s hopeful that make-or-break talks to renew her governing alliance with the Social Democratic Party will succeed, while cautioning that much work is needed for a deal that opens the door to her fourth term.
With Europe’s dominant country and biggest economy stuck in more than three months of post-election stalemate, the acting chancellor’s Christian Democratic-led bloc and
the rival SPD began exploratory talks amid a growing sense that their political futures are at stake.
“I’m going into these talks with optimism, though it’s clear to me that a huge amount of work lies ahead,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Sunday as she headed into the discussions. “We are willing to take on this task and bring it to a good conclusion.”
Merkel, 63, has governed with the SPD for eight of her 12 years in office in a “grand coalition” of the country’s two biggest parties. Her attempt to stitch together a disparate government with the pro-market Free Democrats and the Green party collapsed in November, leaving German decisions on everything from euro-area policy to migration and social programs on hold.
The would-be partners have set a tight schedule, seeking to finish exploratory talks by Thursday. If they agree there’s enough common ground, the SPD’s leadership would ask a party convention on Jan. 21 to clear the way for full-fledged negotiations on a policy blueprint for a government.
“What I know is that we have to reach an agreement,” Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer, whose Christian Social Union is part of Merkel’s bloc at the national level, told reporters in Berlin. “I repeat: We must reach an agreement.”
Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had claimed credit for shielding Germany from migration in a dig at Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose sister party gave him a platform to criticize her refugee policy.
Merkel’s Bavarian allies had hosted Orban in a reminder of her open-borders stance that provoked domestic and European rifts and has complicated her path to a fourth term. Orban is among eastern leaders who reject a Merkel-backed plan to resettle refugees across the European Union.
“We were organizing border protection at a time when other places in Europe were celebrating chaos and a breakdown of law and order,” Orban told reporters at a meeting of Bavaria’s ruling Christian Social Union party at an Alpine hotel. “As I said two years ago, you can count on me as the captain of your border protection.”
Migration policy is on the agenda as Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the CSU and the rival Social Democrats prepare to begin talks on renewing their alliance for another four years. Bavaria was the main entry point during Germany’s refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016, prompting months of public conflict between Merkel and the CSU.
Without naming Merkel, the Hungarian premier took up talking points championed by her foes such as the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, the first far-right party to win seats in the federal parliament since the 1950s.
Europeans want public safety, secure borders and the removal of illegal residents, he said.