Article

2017-11-20 Europe

German election: Preliminary coalition talks collapse after FDP walks out

[DW] Germany's Free Democrats have called off coalition talks with Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslems ..
's CDU/CSU bloc and the Greens. FDP head Christian Lindner said that after weeks of negotiations the parties could not find a "basis of trust."

While Merkel will remain acting chancellor, it remains unclear where this leaves her prospects of forming a new government.

Her conservatives could choose to enter talks with just the Greens to form a minority government.

Alternatively, she may try to convince the Social Democrats (SPD) , who were the second-biggest party in the September election, to join her to form a second consecutive grand coalition. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
after suffering a humiliating election loss in September, the SPD has repeatedly reaffirmed that its role in the upcoming Bundestag will be in opposition.

Should both options fail, then a return to the polls in the new year remains the only viable option.

Merkel said would inform President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has the power to call new elections, on Monday of the failure of the coalition talks.

This suggests that a minority government with the Greens may be out of the question and the country could be heading for a new election.

Posted by trailing wife 2017-11-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [16 views ] Top

#1 President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has the power to call new elections

The German President does not have the power to dissolve parliament unilaterally.

An hour earlier, FDP head Christian Lindner announced that his party had walked out of the negotiations after "reached compromises were questioned again."

"It is better not to rule than to rule wrongly," he said.

This is a malicious mistranslation. Lindner's words ("Es ist besser, nicht zu regieren, als falsch zu regieren.") are correctly translated as "It is better not to govern than to govern the wrong way."

The German word for "to govern" is "regieren"; the word for "to rule" is "herrschen."

Politicians in a Western Democracy can govern but they can never rule.

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2017-11-20 01:38|| 2017-11-20 01:38|| Front Page Top

#2 Her conservatives

You keep using that word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

Posted by AlanC 2017-11-20 09:17|| 2017-11-20 09:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Merkel has left Berlin's Schloss Bellevue after informing President Steinmeier that she's unable to form a government.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2017-11-20 09:32|| 2017-11-20 09:32|| Front Page Top

#4 Things seem to work just fine without government interference. A few months without stupid new laws won't hurt.

Posted by European Conservative 2017-11-20 09:37|| 2017-11-20 09:37|| Front Page Top

#5 This is a malicious mistranslation.

Given that Deutsche Welle is an instrument if government outreach to the English-speaking pro-Germans of the world... Thank you for the perspective, Elmerert Hupens2660.

Posted by trailing wife 2017-11-20 12:42|| 2017-11-20 12:42|| Front Page Top

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