Merkel’s bid for next govt hangs by thread

Bloomberg

Talks aimed at paving the way for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to unite four parties
into her next governing coalition were on a knife’s edge as the clock ticked toward a deadline to avert a political crisis in Europe’s biggest economy.
Four hours into the latest round in Berlin, there was little sign an agreement was imminent and even some evidence that differences were widening. Merkel
and her Christian Democrat-led bloc face an increasingly tense endgame to win over the Free Democratic and Green parties for formal coalition talks, or else risk triggering new elections and a possible end to Merkel’s fourth term before it begins. The talks are hanging by a thread, said an FDP negotiator, who asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
A deal would open the door to bargaining on a detailed policy agenda and cabinet posts that Merkel’s party would like to conclude by Christmas. The chancellor, whose hold on power is on the line after 12 years in office, is proposing a 10-point interim accord to bring the exploratory talks to a successful conclusion, Hans Michelbach, a lawmaker from her Bavarian CSU sister party, told reporters. German public broadcaster ZDF reported earlier Sunday that the four parties were considering abandoning the talks.
Whatever happens, Germ-
ans are headed for uncharted territory. The three factions — nicknamed Jamaica for their respective party colors — haven’t
governed together at the national level, and post-World War II
Germany has never held a repeat election.
After four weeks of prelimi-
nary talks, policy on immigration, Europe and cuts in carbon emissions remained major obstacles
on Sunday.
“We have moved in many areas, we have gone to the pain threshold” on refugee policy, Green negotiator Juergen Trittin said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The Greens won’t back down from their demand to let a certain number of refugees bring their families to Germany because denying this right would be “inhumane,” he said.
Germany’s election almost eight weeks ago left the country with its most splintered political landscape since the war. Merkel won with her bloc’s lowest share of the vote since 1949, while the anti-establishment Alternative for Germany, which campaigned against the chancellor’s liberal refugee policy, entered parliament with 12.6 percent of the vote.
While billed as exploratory,
the talks have been so hard-fought because once the parties agree
to start formal coalition tal-
ks, “there’s no turning back,” Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer, who’s negotiating for the CSU,
told reporters.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on all sides to stop jockeying for position
and move forward. While his
post is mostly ceremonial, it would be up to the president to call
new elections.