Dr. Henning Hoff

Germany’s incoming chancellor needed two tries to get the necessary majority in parliament. This has overshadowed the start of Friedrich Merz’ new government, whose foreign policy setup actually looks promising.

The incoming government of Friedrich Merz needed the Greens to get an unprecedented financial package through parliament. The Greens delivered, in their own way.

The result of Germany’s election was largely as expected: CDU leader Friedrich Merz should be able to build a two-way coalition government with the big losers of the night, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrats (SPD). But much else is less clear.

The coalition-building after the election on February 23 is likely to become a moment of truth.

Elon Musk has been trolling Germany’s parliamentary election campaign during the holidays. His AI-supported interventions are unlikely to have much effect, but they remind the country that it needs new ideas—which so far are lacking.

The break-up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ coalition government was expected, but is still taking place at an extremely critical time. Its successor will have to set clearer priorities—and find greater fiscal space.