The results explained as Friedrich Merz comes out swinging for Europe

Friedrich Merz, the presumptive chancellor of Germany, has confirmed he will seek a coalition with the social democratic SPD after the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) won the February 23 election, topping the poll with 28.5%. Although the SPD has gone from winning the last election to a record low result of 16.4% of the vote, it […]

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What happened in the German parliament and why is the far right hailing it as a ‘historic’ moment?

A vote in Germany’s national parliament (Bundestag) has led to fears that the firewall supposedly separating mainstream political parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been blown apart. Until now, Germany’s largest parties, including the union of Christian democratic parties the CDU and CSU, and the social democrat SPD, have ruled out any […]

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Olaf Scholz could face pre-Christmas confidence vote after collapse of his coalition

Germany could be heading into an election even sooner than expected after chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated that he may be willing to make concessions to bring forward a confidence vote already scheduled for January 15. The vote, which is presumed to become a trigger for an election, was called for the new year after Scholz’s […]

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