Berlin: After 16 years of power, Angela Merkel was set to retire as Chancellor after the general election on September 26, leaving a gaping hole in German politics.
In run-up for voting that will mark a seismic shift for Europe’s biggest economy, the race to replace Merkel is wide open – as indicated by the next government.
Social Democrats (SPD) are currently leading in polls, in front of the Conservative Alliance of CDU-CSU Merkel in second place and green in the third.
Merkel, 67, announced that the current and fourth period in office will be “the last” in October 2018, when the CDU has just suffered a setback of elections in the Hesse state.
The decision marked the first time since 1949 that the Chancellor of Petahan had not run for re-election.
Appointing Chancellor for the first time on November 22, 2005, Merkel has been in the office almost during Helmut Kohl, the leader of the world’s longest in power for more than 16 years (5,869 days).
He has overtaken Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor credited by reviving the economy after World War II and who ruled West Germany for 14 years.
The economic and future of the German industry has become an important problem during the election campaign.
The country’s superior car industry faces an existential crisis that is deposited by a decrease in combustion and its consequences for 800,000 workers employed in this sector.
DIGITIZATION is also a theme, even though Germany is “bad behind” in this case, according to Paul Maurice, a member of the Franco-German study committee at the French Institute of International Relations.
Climate change is also an important topic, especially after the deadly flood hit Western Germany in July, killing more than 180 people – disasters related to global warming.
However, Maurice said, the campaign has been “very (people) centered, with not enough talks about party programs” – a phenomenon that he suggested can go down to the “Merkel effect”.
As the most powerful country in Europe, Germany played a key role in the European Union.
From the financial crisis in the euro zone with conflict in Ukraine and the problem of thorny migration, Merkel has left footprints in European politics.
The arrival of the new Chancellor will be a big change for blocks – with Franco-German relations which are sometimes rocky but crucially are very focused, also because France goes to the poll in April 2022.
After a new government is in place, Germany will be expected to bring some new momentum to the European Union, Maurice said.
Merkel could not just go home and took it immediately after the election ended, but would be expected to continue to run the country until the replacement was chosen by a lower German Parliament Assembly, Bundestag.
Usually the party with the most votes will try to form a coalition with one or two other parties, which then must develop a road map together for future governments in the form of “coalition contracts”.
First there will be informal talks, followed by the actual coalition negotiations.
In 2005, CDU-CSU and SPd took two months to form a large coalition called.
But after the September 2017 election, negotiations lasted until February 2018.
CDU-CSU first tried to reach an agreement with the green and liberal FDP, but liberals withdrew from talks, forcing conservatives to be satisfied with other SPDs with SPD.
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