New German government to take office next week as SPD approves deal |LAGOS EYE NEWS

Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has approved a coalition agreement with Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc, paving the way for the new German government to take office in Berlin next week.

The centre-left party said on Wednesday 84.6% of members backed the agreement in a two-week online ballot, with 56% turnout.

The SPD is to become the junior party in the incoming administration alongside chancellor-in-waiting Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – both of which have already rubber-stamped the deal.

The agreement is due to be formally signed on Monday, with Merz set to be elected as chancellor on Tuesday, two and a half months after his centre-right bloc won February’s parliamentary elections.

SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil received unanimous backing from his party’s executive committee to become the new vice chancellor.

Matthias Miersch, the party’s general secretary, said the vote to approve the coalition deal showed the party has “strong backing from the grassroots” for its participation in the new administration.

The result was also praised by Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, the leader of the CSU.

“Now we can finally get started,” Söder told dpa in Munich. “It’s high time for a real change of direction in Germany.”

Together, the conservatives and the SPD hold a narrow majority of 328 of 630 seats in the new Bundestag, despite jointly having secured less than 45% of the vote.

The incoming government faces major challenges ahead, with the country’s ailing economy having suffered two consecutive years of recession, and posting only 0.2% growth in the first quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, Europe as a whole is reeling from the dramatic turnaround in US policy under President Donald Trump.

Merz has vowed a change of course in economic and migration policy, two of the issues that dominated the election campaign, while the threat from Russia is set to remain a major concern in the coming years.

German voters will be hoping that the new administration proves more resilient than outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unhappy three-party coalition, which collapsed late last year over budget disputes.

The margin of the SPD result sends a strong signal of support for the coalition, with previous deals between the country’s traditional rivals under former chancellor Angela Merkel having been approved by only 66% and 76% of SPD members in 2018 and 2013.

While the party’s youth wing had outlined its opposition to the coalition agreement’s tough stance on migration and social policy, the SPD was widely expected to back the deal as parties of the centre jointly face the threat of losing vote share to the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The far-right party, which finished second in February’s election, has been surging in recent opinion polls and would likely have benefited from the chaos if the incoming coalition had failed to reach a consensus.

Instead, the new government is now set to take office next week, hoping to restore Germany to its former economic might and renew Berlin’s leadership in Europe.

Wednesday was also a significant day for Scholz, who held his 131st and final Cabinet meeting in Berlin, three and a half years after his three-party coalition took office in December 2021.

Only two partners – Scholz’s SPD and the Greens – were still at the table on Wednesday, after the pro-business Free Democrats withdrew from the government in November, prompting early parliamentary elections to be called in February.

A dpa reporter saw a few embraces, but said there was no sign of an emotional farewell at the start of the meeting, which approved a 3.74% increase in pensions.

Scholz was due to visit France for a farewell visit to French President Emmanuel Macron later on Wednesday.

He is due to be honoured with formal military ceremony on Monday ahead of leaving office on Tuesday.

– dpa