This Wednesday, December 8, Germany turns a page and not the least since Olaf Scholz, the leader of the SPD, the German Social Democratic Party, is elected this Wednesday new chancellor after sixteen years ...

A new era begins in Germany

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will be invested this Wednesday, December 8, poses alongside the future Minister of Finance, the liberal Christian Lindner and the future Minister of Economy and Climate, the ecologist Robert Habeck.

All three exhibit the program of their coalition government.

Berlin, December 7, 2021. REUTERS - FABRIZIO BENSCH

Text by: Romain Lemaresquier Follow

4 min

Olaf Scholz will lead a coalition government with the Liberals of the FDP and the Greens entering a federal government.

A first in the history of this country which is impatiently awaiting the implementation of a very ambitious program, in social or environmental terms.

A program which should make it possible to modernize Germany.

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This is a great first in Germany. The election this Wednesday, December 8 to the Bundestag of Olaf Scholz as chancellor marks a real break with previous governments. The contract signed between the three parties (SPD, FDP and the Greens) which form this coalition is a first at the federal level according to Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg. It should make it possible to fundamentally transform a country which is turning the page on sixteen years of austerity, believes the MEP from the German Greens party, a party which is part of this coalition: "

It is a bet on the future.
This is the first time that Germany has found itself with a team of three parties that will govern together as a coalition.
There are points on which we have not succeeded in fixing the lines which were dear to us.
We had to make compromises, of course, especially with the Liberals, but also with the Social Democrats.
But the challenges of society, whether it is the pandemic, the climate, whether it is the in-depth transformation towards the ecology of tomorrow, these are issues so important that as an ecologist we have no choice: we have to go.

A non-binding coalition contract

The coalition contract, which was ratified by the members of the three political parties, is very ambitious, and in many areas. But it should be noted that this contract has no binding value as Paul Maurice reminds us: “

It is a coalition contract, these are broad outlines. This is not a program that will be applied point by point with a specific legislative program. Of course there will certainly be things that will not be achieved, but that gives an idea of what the government will do, what it will want to do together over the next four years

. "For the researcher at the Study Committee on Franco-German Relations at IFRI, the French Institute of International Relations, this is important"

it's that we really have a government that wants to look to the future with fairly ambitious policies.
In domestic policy on new societal measures, on the protection of children for example, on social measures to find a German social model, but also in terms of foreign policy.

A program difficult to finance

An ambitious program, but which seems complex to implement, because the question of financing arises, knowing that the liberals of the FDP are opposed to all tax increases, as the leader of this party Christian Lindner, who will occupy moreover the chair of Minister of Finance.

A problem which, according to Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg, is precisely the occasion to review the system as a whole: “

We have instruments at European level and also with regard to the carbon tax.
So there will be income.
And there are also some what could be described as harmful subsidies that are going to be cut.
So there will be money in the circuit.
It will be a way of investing in the environment by stopping doing things with public money that causes damage and by reinvesting in areas in which we want to get involved

”.

An alliance designed to last

The coming to power of this coalition therefore marks a break with Angela Merkel's model of governance. But is this coalition able to hold out throughout this legislature? For Paul Maurice, this alliance can even be long-term: "

The Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, said that a coalition which presents itself must do so in order to represent itself together four years later, that is to say to remain united during the four years. And we saw during the last experiments in Germany that coalitions that nobody imagined going to the end of the legislature did it. So one can imagine that even if there are tensions, they will manage to find compromises to continue to govern together and perhaps, according to their objectives, to govern together for the following legislature.

An observation also shared by Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg for whom Germany has no other choice today, even if this implies tensions which are in any case inherent in any coalition.

A new era begins in Germany

A new era begins in Germany

A non-binding coalition contract

A program difficult to finance

An alliance designed to last

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