SPD, liberals and greens set ambitious goals for the first legislature without the woman who led the country and Europe for 16 years
Airs of political renewal in Germany with the premiere of the new federal Executive next Wednesday. After 16 years and four legislatures of government of the Christian democrat Angela Merkel, the first European economy goes from being directed by a new formula of political alliance. After the narrow victory of the SPD in the legislative elections of September, the conservatives go over to the opposition and the Social Democrats to lead an unprecedented center-left coalition with Los Verdes and the Liberal Party (FDP) as junior partners.
In three days, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz will be elected by the Bundestag and will go on to lead the first tripartite in the history of the Federal Republic that assumes the formation of a government in Berlin. Faced with the reason of state that led to the forced three large coalitions that Merkel has led, those who will govern in this country from now on base their alliance on mutual trust.
To the surprise of the media and political analysts, SPD, environmentalists and FDP have managed to agree quickly, professionally and discreetly on the drafting of a coalition contract. After absolutely hermetic conversations in which more than three hundred negotiators from the three parties participated without a single word leaking to the press in eight weeks.
The harmony shown by the parties of the so-called ‘Ampel Koalition’, the semaphore coalition for the traditional colors that represent each of the three formations, has been praised even by the unsuccessful conservative candidate for Federal Chancellery, Armin Laschet, who He congratulated on “the style and form of the negotiations” and stressed that “confidentiality is a basic condition of trust.” A trust between the three forces that began when the leaders of the two smallest, the co-presidents of Los Verdes Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck and the leader of the Liberals, Christian Lindner, met to iron out rough edges and agree on positions before beginning to poll. the possibilities of a government agreement with the SPD.
All three will now have decisive positions in the Scholz Executive. For Habeck, who also assumes the federal vice chancellor, a super ministry of Economy, Climate Protection and Energy Change has been created, while Baerbock will this week become the first and youngest foreign minister of Germany and Lindner in successor of Scholz himself to the front of the strategic portfolio of Finance.
‘Daring with more progress’
The Greens have five departments, the FDP with four and the SPD, in addition to the Federal Chancellery, with seven ministries. While environmentalists and liberals have already nominated those responsible for them, the Social Democrats maintain the suspense and will not announce their list until tomorrow. ‘Daring with more progress’ reads the title of the 177-page document that contains the government program of the three formations for the next four years.
A coalition agreement in which the SPD, Greens and FDP have had to make mutual concessions, although all will fulfill some electoral promise. The Social Democrats have imposed, for example, raising the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour, the Greens that the fight against climate change is a priority objective and the liberals, traditional representatives of liberal professionals and the upper middle class, not to raise taxes any.
Interesting what is not in the agreement. There will still be no speed limit on the highways, no deadlines are specified for strategic infrastructures such as the deployment of fiber optics, nor is the necessary tax reform even proposed, and it is not explained how the social plans will be financed.
They have started, however, better when it comes to coping with the current coronavirus crisis. Although it does not assume power until the middle of next week, the tripartite took the reins of the fight against the pandemic in recent days in summits attended together by Merkel and Scholz.
The virtual new federal chancellor achieved what his predecessor has not achieved in the last two years. On Thursday he managed to agree on positions with the prime ministers of the sixteen federal states to establish drastic common and unified measures against the spread of the virus and even support the initiative to establish mandatory vaccination in Germany, which the Bundestag will vote at the beginning of the year to effective in February given the low immunization rate, below 70%. He also set up a permanent crisis cabinet under the command of a general expert in catastrophes.
Ambitious goals
Determined to address the necessary digital modernization of Germany, achieve climate neutrality and ensure that the most populous and richest country in the European Union remains globally competitive, the list of objectives of the new Government for the next four years is long and varied. . From the legalization of the sale and consumption of cannabis, to reducing the voting age to 16 years, but also raising the contribution of renewables to electricity production to 80% until 2030 and trying to close the era of coal that same year .
In addition and among other things, its goals are to build 400,000 homes per year, reform immigration policy, promote education and research and move towards a United States of Europe, with greater powers for the Parliament of Strasbourg, a common government and the transnational vote. . But if it succeeds in technologically relaunching the country, digitally organizing its administration, reducing bureaucracy and successfully shifting its economy towards climate neutrality without ruining the principles of well-being, it may be that the ‘Ampel Koalition’ will last beyond the four years of the present legislature and that the political experiment is recognized by the electorate.
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