The centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), their sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have reached an agreement to form a government 45 days after Germany’s snap federal election.
The party leaders said at a press conference in Berlin that they have reached compromises on key issues such as cutting taxes and stabilising pensions.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz said that Germany is now a stable country after four years of instability and his message to US President Donald Trump is that Germany is “back on track.”
Both SPD co-chair Lars Klingbeil and Merz agree that illegal immigration has to be stopped and vowed that Germany would become competitive.
They said that express citizenship will be abolished and that becoming a citizen of Germany would only be possible after five years, rather than the three the former government made possible.
Welfare is also to be reformed and Merz said the new government would be focused on transforming Germany into a modern and digital country.
Rent controls will be kept in place and Klingbeil said that Germany welcomes immigration, although both promised to halt illegal migration.
The parties said that they had fought over the many of the key issues, but that they remained on good terms and even joked that they addressed each other with the informal word for you – “du” – rather than than the more formal variant, “Sie”.
The three parties have been under pressure to reach a speedy agreement after stock markets plummeted in response to US President Donald Trump announcing tariffs across the globe.
The next step before the government is formed is that SPD members and an executive committee from the CDU’s sister party CSU need to vote on the agreement before it can be signed. That is expected to take 10 days.
After that, Merz is widely expected to be elected chancellor, which could be in the first week of May.
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