Germany's Merz To Unveil Coalition Deal To Form New Government

Berlin, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Apr, 2025) Germany's conservative chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz was to unveil Wednesday his party's coalition deal with the Social Democrats, paving the way to soon forge a new government.

Merz, whose CDU/CSU alliance won February's elections, hopes to quickly take charge of Europe's top economy as the EU faces sweeping changes in transatlantic security ties and the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump.

He hopes the new alliance with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be able to launch a new government this month or in early May.

The coalition agreement, hammered out in marathon talks, will be presented at a Berlin press conference at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), all parties said in corresponding statements.

The negotiations have been fraught with urgency amid a further surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), with opinion polls this week showing it running neck-and-neck with the CDU/CSU or even slightly ahead.

The swift conclusion of the talks -- a process that has in past years dragged on for months in Germany -- is the result of "extraordinary external pressure", said political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder of Kassel University.

"The pressure is coming from Trump, the pressure is coming from the AfD, the pressure is coming from (Merz's) own ranks," he told news channel NTV.

Germany held a snap election in February after the collapse of Scholz's three-way coalition on November 6, the very day Trump was re-elected to the White House.

Merz, after winning the election with 28.5 percent of the vote, pledged a crackdown on immigration and steps to build up Germany's long underfunded armed forces and to revive its economy, which has shrunk for two years in a row.

- 'Final spurt' -

Merz has secured major financial firepower for his ambitious plans after the outgoing parliament approved hundreds of billions of Euros in extra spending and a softening of Germany's strict debt rules.

However, this has exposed him to internal party criticism and accusations from the AfD that he has broken campaign pledges and caved in to key demands of the SPD.

The AfD scored a record vote result of over 20 percent in the February 23 elections, making it the second-biggest party.

With the so-called coalition contract, the parties are expected to lay out government policy for the next four years, and may signal which party takes which ministry.

Alexander Dobrindt, the parliamentary leader of the CSU -- which represents the conservatives in Bavaria -- said earlier that the talks had entered the "final spurt" and that he expected a "very good result".

Markus Soeder, leader of the CSU, said "I have a feeling it could be a good day for Germany and also for Bavaria".

Once the agreement has been presented, the new parliament is expected to install Merz as chancellor in late April or early May.

While the SPD plans to ask its members to sign off on the final deal, the CDU plans only to seek the approval of senior party figures.