A grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD is widely expected in Germany. Yet as John Ryan argues, there are serious questions about whether the new coalition will be able to respond to the multiple challenges facing the country. Friedrich Merz may have emerged as the winner of Germany’s federal election, with the mandate to … Read more
A grand coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD appears the most likely outcome following Germany’s election. But what does the result mean for Europe? Drawing on original expert data, Ann-Kathrin Reinl and Stefan Wallaschek highlight disagreements between the two coalition partners over EU social and defence policies as potential sticking points. After the German federal … Read more
Friedrich Merz looks set to become the next German chancellor after leading the CDU/CSU to victory in Germany’s federal election. Florian Stoeckel writes that given the pace of international events, having new leadership in place quickly would be advantageous for both Europe and Germany. Germany’s election results are in, and as anticipated, the conservative CDU/CSU … Read more
Election campaign posters for the Parti Socialiste (SPD), with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left), and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with Friedrich Merz, in Berlin, February 20, 2025. MARKUS SCHREIBER / AP Just over a hundred days. An election campaign as brief as it has been intense is drawing to a close in Germany, a country … Read more
Immigration has been the central issue in Germany’s 2025 federal election campaign. Kristina Bakkær Simonsen and Tobias Widmann demonstrate how this debate has increasingly been framed in moral terms and examine what this framing means for how citizens engage with political issues and with one another. This Sunday, Germany will go to the polls in … Read more