AfD Frozen Out as Merz Reaches Coalition Deal With Mainstream Rivals

Germany's biggest mainstream parties have sealed an agreement to form a government, keeping the far right out of power, as Europe's largest economy struggles to reverse a downturn and gird itself for the potentially catastrophic impact of new US tariffs.

- Deborah Cole

The prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU announced the breakthrough deal yesterday with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who had led the ruling coalition since 2021.

At a news conference with his coalition partners, Merz said the 146-page Responsibility for Germany roadmap "is a very strong and clear signal to the citizens of our country. And it is also a clear signal to our partners in the European Union." He added: "Germany is back on track."

The compromise package, which Merz had aimed to have completed by Easter, must still win majority approval among the SPD's 357,000 members via an online ballot as well as from the leadership of the CDU and CSU, known as the Union parties.

Assuming those hurdles are cleared by the end of April, the 69-year-old Merz could be sworn in before the Bundestag in early May, realising a decades-long dream for the longtime rival of Angela Merkel.