CDU, SPD Look for common ground – DW – 03/03/2025

Friedrich Merz, probably future Chancellor of Germany, told a press conference that “we have to try and Keep the United States in Europe“While President Donald Trump continued to show a lack of interest in his The traditional allies of the country.

He described Trump’s non -divromatic public rant towards the Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, a premeditated “intentional escalation which put Europe” under immense pressure to act quickly “.

“We must now show that we are able to act independently,” he said.

When he was asked if he intended to visit the United States, Merz said that a new government would have to be formed.

Merz said he was very unlikely that his party would have a coalition agreement signed before A European summit on Ukraine in Brussels on Thursday.

Neoliberal FDP has undergone another reverse Sunday – with only 2.3% of the vote, he did not erase the obstacle by 5% to obtain seats in the legislature of the State of Hamburg.

The news came in the heels of the FDP which does not reach 5% for Federal elections of Germany At the end of February.

Over the past five years, the FDP has had a single seat in the Hamburg Parliament. With 4.97% of the vote, they did not meet the minimum, however, a legislator won his district and obtained a seat.

Katarina Blume, the main candidate of the party in Hamburg, described the result of “shocking” and said that there was “no way to make sugar”.

However, she said, “I know Hamburg is a liberal city, and the FDP will be back.”

Sonja Jacobsen, head of the FDP in Hamburg, said that it was time for “realignment” of the party at the levels of the state and the federal government.

Social Democrat leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken were joined by the mayor of Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher

Tschantscher praised Hamburg’s victory as a “wick of the democratic environment”, detracting the tendency to seek responses to the extreme right. “Hamburg is a stable and unified city,” he said.

Klingbeil then went to what the SPD would concentrate in negotiations with the CDU, saying that the party wanted to focus on problems affecting the Germans every day.

“Everyone has a history on the Deutsche Bahn,” he said, referring to the country notoriously delayed rail service. “Many parents find it difficult to find a nursery school for their children, others find it difficult to find an apartment they can afford,” he added, saying that the SPD would seek to solve these problems in the context of a future government.

Esken said that the Social Democrats wanted to “bring together society” and find common ground on issues such as “climate protection against economic growth … security against freedom”.

The two party leaders stressed that the budget would be essential for discussions, in particular for investment in schools, trains and infastructure The SPD is looking for.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he invited the leaders of the SPD and the CDU to participate in a special meeting on the country’s policy in the country on Wednesday.

With the United States more and more Support For Ukraine, European leaders now see Their position as more crucial than ever.

The meeting will take place in the Chancellery of Berlin, before an EU level on the future of assistance to Ukraine on Thursday.

CDU / CSU parliamentary chief Johann Wadephul, told Augsburger Allgemeine From the newspaper on Monday that his block will immediately ask for an agreement with the SPD on a special fund for soldiers in the light of the evolution of world security.

“It is clear to everyone that we need considerable financial resources not only to support Ukraine, but also to invest in our own defense and therefore in the Bundeswehr,” said Wadephul.

“We cannot waste time before the new Bundestag is satisfied,” he added. “Ukraine cannot wait for weeks. The free world cannot wait for weeks.”

Requested specifically if Berlin would be part of the “Coalition of provisions”, “ As indicated at a weekend summit in London, Wadephul said: “Germany has clearly committed to continuing to support Ukraine.”

Despite Trump statements And his vice-president JD Vance at a meeting with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, Wadephul told the public broadcaster ZDF that it was important that Friedrich Merz established a “good personal relationship” with the American president.

The CDU cried the register of the Bernhard Vogel legislator, who died Monday at the age of 92. A “historically unique” head of state, as a former chancellor of the CDU Angela Merkel called him.

Vogel was not only Prime Minister of State during the longest in German history, but he was the only person to lead a state in what was Western Germany at the time before holding the same post in a Old East Germany State.

He led the Rhineland-Palatine from 1976 to 1988, before moving to Thuringia to the East and used there from 1992 to 2003.

Dedicated servant for decades, he also held posts raised to the European Parliament and the ZDF public broadcaster. His brother, Hans-Jochen Vogel, was a SPD legislator who was mayor of Berlin and Munich.

Friedrich Merz congratulated Vogel as a “bridge manufacturer”, which leaves behind a “lasting heritage”.

A government in Germany must represent 50% of voters. Theoretically, if only one party managed to reach this obstacle, he could govern alone. However, this has never happened in the country’s post-war history.

Instead, the party that wins the most votes generally seek coalition partners In order to reach these 50%. In this case, the CDU / CSU block promised not to work with far -right AFD, which has arrived second, leaving a coalition with SPD as the only realistic option.

The coalition of the parties traditionally of the center-left and the center-right will require weeks of negotiations to create a political platform which satisfies both parties.

Another element of the coalition for discussions is to decide which party can take into account which cabinet post. Traditionally, the party candidate who earns the most votes will become chancellor and the main candidate of the junior coalition partner is often exploited to become Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Once a “coalition contract” is approved by the two parties, the head of the main partner – the Friedrich Merz of the CDU in this case – will be invited to form a government.

The city of Hamburg will remain “in good hands” with the outgoing mayor Peter Tschantscher, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social networks while attending a Ukrainian summit in London.

Despite a breakdown during the recent federal elections, the SPD has become the strongest party in the elections of the State of Hamburg, for a long time a bastion. Outgoing chancellor Scholz is a former mayor of Hamburg.

The preliminary results put the SPD at 33% of the vote, a drop of six percentage points on their 2020 result in the city-state.

The CDU increased from 11% during the last 20% vote to arrive second. They were followed by the Greens at almost 18%. After that came the left at 11% and AFD at 7.5%.

Exploratory Coalition speech between the Cduhis Bavarian sister group Le CSU and the SPD are ready to continue.

Although they are traditionally rival and having governed somewhat unfortunately during the mandate of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, the two parties agreed to try to form a coalition after the CDU excluded working with the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD). The CDU arrived first in the German investigation elections on February 23 with 28.5% of the votes and the AFD second with 20%.

THE SPDThe outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party arrived third with a low-wave of 16.4% post-war period.

CDU leader and the future probable chancellor Friedrich Merz should give a press conference in the afternoon. Press conferences are also expected from the environmentalist Green partywho dropped in polls, and free democrats adapted to business (Fdp) and the SPD.

The FDP withdrew from an in power coalition with the SPD and the Greens in November for a budget dispute, but failed to obtain the necessary 5% of the votes to enter the Bundestag.

THE LeftThis was surprisingly well in the federal elections with 8.7% of the vote, will also hold a press conference.