The German central party announced Wednesday that they had formally reached a coalition agreement to allow conservative Friedrich Merz to take the reins as prime minister in a turbulent moment when Europe's economic and security order is declining.
Since Meltz's Christian Democrats came to the fore in the February election, he has been under great pressure to move the government as the Trump administration has hit Europe with tariffs, threatened the NATO alliance and resided in aggressive, expandist Russia.
Feeling urgency, Merz took exceptional measures, using a provisional period to push measures through parliament and raise debt restrictions, allowing Germany to throw billions more on infrastructure and military spending. The coalition agreement announced Wednesday was the fastest since 2009 when Angela Merkel won her second term.
Nevertheless, Europe's largest economy, Germany has remained virtually leaderless during multiple overlapping global crises.
“We don't know what direction the international situation will take yet, but that's why today's message is more clearer and in this global change we want, it will help shape Germany,” Meltz told reporters when the coalition plan was presented.
In response to a question from a reporter, Merz took a little time to deal with President Trump directly in English. “The important message to Donald Trump is that Germany is doing well,” he said, adding that the country is aiming to raise military spending and strengthen its competitiveness.
The German far-right alternative, which finished second in the February election, continues to rise in votes, but has vowed not to partner with mainstream parties as they are seen as a threat to German democracy.
Instead, Merz's conservatives work with the Social Democrats on the centre-left of the departing prime minister, Olaf Scholz, to reconstruct the centrist coalition that long ruled German politics. The contract still needs to be approved by the parties, but Merz is expected to be sworn in early May.
Wee Jun, a political expert who teaches at Torier University in West Germany, said that because of the global political situation, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats “feeling that Germany is capable of action, which is even more clear from Trump's recent actions.”
The federated agreement includes compromises on issues such as taxes, infrastructure spending, defense and transition. For Merz, who promised political change during the campaign, it was important to show that his government was significantly different from Scholtz.
The party leader spent his final time negotiating tax and pensions.
The Union partners ultimately agreed to cut some taxes, including reducing unemployment benefits, in hopes of pushing more Germans into the workforce, such as overtime salaries. The new government will create a ministry focused on digitalization, Merz said.
The parties also agreed to revoke several recent changes that have made it easier to become a German citizen by stepping up measures to prevent illegal migration.
Critics are concerned that the government, sometimes called the “black red” coalition for party colours, lacks the broad vision needed to lift Germany out of economic funk and stop the rise of the AFD.
Polls show that Germans are deeply concerned about the global situation — but have begun to lose faith in Merz since the election.
“Now it's time for black negotiators to finally unite their actions,” said Daniel Friedrich Sturm, who writes for Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin's largest daily newspaper.
Recent polls suggest that AFD, which won 20.8% of votes in February, and conservatives, who accounted for 28.6%, will run their necks and necks if elections are held now. On Wednesday, one poll put the AFD at the top with 25% ahead of the conservatives who scored 24%. It was the first poll to show the far-right party in the lead since the end of the Nazi era.
After some leaks about the coalition meeting, members of Merz's party criticized him for not being harsh enough on the Social Democrats. The party only received 16.4% of the February vote, but is widely seen as having an advantage in coalition talks.
Some Conservative members were particularly plagued by the expensive infrastructure commitment that helped them pass, despite being frequently guaranteed during the campaign to not borrow money before finding it on a regular budget.
“Where is the promised new direction for the transition policy?” The Cologne branch of Merz's party's Youth Wings challenged him in a letter cited by German news media, adding, “Where is the economic shift we have announced?”
