Merz needs to change his tone, SPD co-chair warns
And if you think it’s all going to be oh-so-easy in the coalition talks, because the two parties worked together in the past, think again.
SPD’s co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who is expected to lead his side in coalition talks, was on the ZDF last night.
He said the party has “never ducked away” from responsibility for the country, but insisted that the responsibility for forming the new government lies with CDU/CSU’s presumed chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
In a warning shot, he also said that “it is no secret that Friedrich Merz has deepened the rift with the SPD in recent weeks,” pointing to his controversial migration motion passed with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
“The expectation is clear that Merz will change his course and his tone significantly,” he said.
“He will make offers about what the future of this country could look like, and we have clear expectations in this regard,” he asserted.
Key events
But, but, but… before we even get to the new Bundestag in late March, there is some plotting under way to change the country’s constitutional debt brake in this parliament before it finishes its term.
Once the new parliament gets in, two opposition parties – the far-right AfD and the far-left Die Linke – will have a blocking majority for constitutional changes and are unlikely to be willing to agree to fund further defence spend this way.
So Friedrich Merz thinking about striking a deal with the SPD and the Greens to relax the rules in the last weeks of the current parliament.
He said yesterday he would hold exploratory chats with both parties to see if they can find a way to make it happen.
Defence minister Boris Pistorius, from the SPD, appears to be keen, telling Bild that the suggestion “shows a sense of responsibility,” but you won’t be surprised that others – including the AfD – are furious about the idea.
One more issue to talk about over the next few weeks!
Merz needs to change his tone, SPD co-chair warns
And if you think it’s all going to be oh-so-easy in the coalition talks, because the two parties worked together in the past, think again.
SPD’s co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who is expected to lead his side in coalition talks, was on the ZDF last night.
He said the party has “never ducked away” from responsibility for the country, but insisted that the responsibility for forming the new government lies with CDU/CSU’s presumed chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
In a warning shot, he also said that “it is no secret that Friedrich Merz has deepened the rift with the SPD in recent weeks,” pointing to his controversial migration motion passed with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
“The expectation is clear that Merz will change his course and his tone significantly,” he said.
“He will make offers about what the future of this country could look like, and we have clear expectations in this regard,” he asserted.
German business wants cuts in bureaucracy, faster approval, lower taxes – survey
German companies expect from the next government drastic cuts in bureaucracy, faster and more efficient approvals, noticeable relief in taxes and lower electricity costs, the DIHK Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Tuesday.
Reuters reported that almost 90% of the 4,000 companies surveyed said they have seen a deterioration in the business conditions in Germany over the past four years.
“The new federal government must urgently tackle this now,” DIHK president Peter Adrian said in the presentation of the corporate barometer for the election. “A lot of trust has been destroyed in the past.”
According to the DIHK study, 95% of companies consider the reduction of bureaucratic hurdles to be one of the most important tasks of the coming government.
“Politics must credibly declare war on bureaucracy,” Adrian said, adding that for every new obligation, at least two existing ones should be eliminated, “better even three.”
Pope ‘slept well, all night,’ Vatican says
Pope Francis continues his recovery from pneumonia in a Rome hospital, with Vatican telling us this morning in a one-sentence update that “the pope slept well, all night.”
The 88-year-old was admitted to Gemelli hospital on 14 February, and his condition remains critical – despite some encouraging reports about a “slight improvement” on Monday night.
AP reports that thousands of people have gathered in St. Peter’s Square last night to pray for the pope.
Still, the mood was mostly grim in the monumental square on Monday evening, with many understanding they may be in Rome for Francis’ final days. Crowds sat under umbrellas on folding chairs or stood by the vast colonnades as they reflected fondly on the pontiff’s legacy.
European charm offensive on Ukraine – what you need to know
If you missed the start of the European charm offensive in Washington last night, here is all you need to know:
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Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has warned Donald Trump against a “surrender” of Ukraine as the US president said Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal” that could include European peacekeepers.
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Mixing flattery and firmness, the French president sought to heal the transatlantic schism over Ukraine, giving Keir Starmer a tough act to follow on Thursday.
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The United Nations general assembly has backed a resolution drafted by Ukraine and the European Union condemning Russia on the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion. The United States, Russia, Belarus and North Korea all voted against the resolution underlining an extraordinary shift in US policy since the US president’s election.
For live updates on Ukraine, follow our special live blog here:
Morning opening: No more GroKo
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German news agency, has ruled that the new expected coalition between the conservative CDU/CSU union and the Social Democratic party will no longer qualify as a “grand coalition”, or GroKo, as it was known in Angela Merkel years.
This is to account for the reality that the two are no longer the largest parties in the new Bundestag – with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland now the second largest, ahead of the SPD, after the elections on Sunday.
So, the hunt is on for a new name. Building on a slightly unusual tradition of naming coalitions by references to other countries’ flags, first suggestions were to call it “the Albanian coalition” or “the Angolan coalition” (black and red are the colours of the two parties, although in both cases there are some, erm, additional elements on their flags, too), but in more unusual ideas someone said it could be the “Coke Zero” coalition, too. “Real taste and zero calories”. Any other ideas?
As entertaining as it is, finding an informal nickname for the new coalition is probably going to be the least important of their problems.
With parliamentary party groups meeting for the first time since election today, the countdown to Easter, when chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he would want to have his government in place by, starts now.
We will bring you the latest here.
It’s Tuesday, 25 February 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
