German Coalition Talks Fail
Germany faces a political crisis following the acrimonious collapse of talks to form a coalition government by the Angela Merkel led CDU-CSU, the liberal FDP, and the Greens. After two months spent exploring the possibilities after the late September elections, parties with a majority in parliament refused to form a government late November 19, with opposing stances over immigration and the energy transition.
The Greens clashed with the pro-business FDP over the closure of coal-fired power plants: the Greens wanted the immediate shut-down of 10-20 of Germany’s 180 coal power plants while FDP stood by its manifesto promise of a radical reform of the Energiewende, advocating the end to subsidies for renewable energy.
The federal ministry of economics had warned participants at the talks that Germany would miss its legally binding 2020 climate targets by a long way and that trying to achieve its 2030 goals would risk the economic prosperity of the country. It had also warned that any attempt to force a radical reduction of CO2 emissions “by 2020 would only be possible by partial de-industrialisation of Germany.”
Climate business as usual is no longer an option for the FDP, according to Benny Peiser of the sceptical think-tank, Global Warming Policy Foundation: a fast exit from coal-fired power generation, as demanded by the Greens, would result in severe social, economic and political problems. A continuation of radical climate policies would affect Germany’s main coal regions, not least in the former state of East Germany where the right-wing protest party Alternative fur Deutschland(AfD) had gained significant support in the September elections, winning nearly 13% of the vote. It forms, with over 90 MPs, the third-largest group in the Bundestag.
To ensure that the cost of energy remains low, the AfD advocates the continued use of nuclear and coal-generated electricity. It opposes the Energiewende, stating that “energy must remain affordable and should not be a luxury commodity.” Claiming that subsidies for renewable energy are only benefiting well-off families and green businesses, their manifesto promised the abolition of Germany’s renewable energy law (EEG) together with all green energy subsidies.
The dramatic success of the AfD means that for the first time a party is represented in the Bundestag that opposes Germany’s plans to cut CO2 emissions by moving to renewable energy. Its sceptical stance on climate and green energy issues has sent shock-waves through Germany’s political establishment who fear they can no longer afford to appease the Greens without losing further support among their traditional voter base, said Peiser.
"Just as East Germany’s socialist central planning failed miserably before it was overthrown and replaced by an open society based on liberty and free markets, Germany’s climate religion and green central planning will have to be discarded before it can return to energy realism and economic sanity," he wrote.
Chancellor Merkel now faces the problem of running a minority government, at best: her departure is also expected. Daily Handelsblatt said of the failure of the talks: "When future historians look back at the Merkel era, they will choose this date as the beginning of its end."