Merz Needs Forced Marriage With SPD to Form German Government
BloombergFEB 24
Germany: Merz Confirms Coalition Talks With SPD
Above: CDU leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) gets out of the car at the Federal Chancellery to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Feb. 25, 2025. Image copyright: Michael Kappeler/picture alliance/Contributor via Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
Germans voted for a right-wing conservative government to bring real changes, as the mainstream CDU/CSU and the nationalist AfD have emerged as the two largest parties in the Bundestag. That desire, however, will be ignored again as the CDU/CSU refuses to cooperate with parties other than from the left.
Narrative B
The rise of the far-right AfD threatens post-war values in Germany, so it's pressing that mainstream parties oppose any cooperation with them to prevent normalizing dangerous nationalist ideologies. Merz broke that firewall to try to pass an anti-migrant resolution earlier this year — but it seems that he has learned the lesson.