When German Chancellor Angela Merkel won reelection Sept. 24 for another four-year term, she couldn’t imagine her governing coalition in the 709-member Bundestag [German parliament] would fall apart. Blindsiding Merkel, the pro-business Free Democrats Party [FDP] led by Christian Lindner pulled the plug on Angela. When Angela appointed her main rival 61-year-old former German Foreign Minster Frank-Walter Steinmeir March 19 president, she thought she had a sure thing for a governing coalition. Steinmeier asked all German parties to get behind Merkel to form a grand governing coalition. “It’s better not to rule than to rule the wrong way. Goodbye!” said Lindner, showing that he’s fed up with Merkel’s pro-European Union immigration policy. Merkel miscalculated badly in 2015 letting some 1 million Syrian and Mideast refugees into Germany.
Losing Lindner’s pro-business FDP may be too big of a loss to cobble together, as Steinmeir urges, a grand coalition to rule Germany. Angela said in response she’d call new elections, thinking, that when all the dust settles, she’s the right one to lead Germany over the next four years. “It’s a day of deep reflection on how to go forward in Germany,” Merkel told Reuters. “As chancellor, I will do everything to ensure that this country is well managed in the difficult weeks ahead,” Merkel said. But if Merkel had “well-managed” Germany, she wouldn’t be in the current crisis losing the FDP party. President Donald Trump predicted that Merkel pro-immigration policies would upend her attempt at another term. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Steinmeir’s Social Democratic Party aren’t enough for Merkel to govern the Bundestag [lower house] or the Bundesrag [upper house].
Since the end of WW II when Germany rose from the ashes of its Nazi past, no German Chancellor other than Merkel has faced the collapse of a ruling coalition. Compared by German analysts to Trump’s shocking Nov. 8, 2016 victory or the U.K’s surprise June 23, 2016 Brexit vote, Merkel finds herself caught in a sticky wicket. She ignored the will of German voters to limit Mideast immigration, getting slapped when Islamic terrorist struck Berlin Dec. 19, 2016, killing 12, injuring 56 at a open-air Christmas market. German citizens have been having second thoughts about Merkel’s policies ever since. While Merkel’s the first to criticize Trump’s “America First” policy, she’s put the EU before the good of German citizens. If Merkel can’t form a minority government, then Steinmeir must call for new elections to find a new chancellor with a governing coalition.
Steinmeir, a former SPD foreign minister, will try to apply pressure on Lindner to pull in coalition back under Merkel. Lindner didn’t seem too receptive to another four years of EU rule under Mrs. Merkel. Green Party member Michael Kellner accused Lindner of “bad theatrics,” hoping Steinmeir could pressure him back into the fold. But Kellner’s really worried, not about Merkel, but about the conservative anti-immigrant Alternative for German [AFD] Party refusing to play ball with Angela. Even if Steinmeir can bring the pro-business FDP Party back, it’s not likely to include Merkel as chancellor. Steinmeir walks a tightrope serving Merkel’s government while, at the same time, offering himself up as the logical next chancellor. Appointing Steinmeir president was Merkel’s clever way of keeping Steinmeir from running against her. Letting in more asylum seekers cost Merkel her job.
Merkel’s inability to form a governing coalition goes beyond Germany but mirrors the discontent with the EU’s pro-immigration policies. When Brexit happened in the U.K, it signaled a backlash against the Islamification of Europe, happening because of the EU’s open-border immigration policies. Countries like Poland, Hungary, the Czech, Republic, etc. have resisted admitting Mideast immigrants, watching devastating terrorist attacks in France, in the U.K, Germany and Spain. Trump warned Merkel—and the EU—of the unintended consequences of liberal immigration policies. AFP Party leader Beatrix von Storch hailed Merkel’s collapse as a success for her party. But beyond Germany, there’s a growing backlash against the EU because of its liberal immigration policies. French President Emanuel Macron faces real challenges in the EU with Merkel potentially sidelined.
When Great Britain voted June 23, 2016 to end their lies to the EU, inescapable cracks emerged in Nov. 1, 1993 Brussels-based government. Considered the world’s largest bureaucracy, U.K. voters found that the costs outweighed the benefits. With Germany and France the EU’s most powerful members, Merkel’s problems go to the very heart of the governing body. Tone deaf to the needs of various member-states, the EU’s one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Leading the EU’s pro-immigrant policy has cost Merkel her governing coalition. Blaming Linder’s FDP or von Storch’s AFP Parties misses the point. What’s good for bureaucrats at the EU isn’t necessarily good form EU-member states. If the EU wants a wake-up to its failed immigration policies, it needs to look no further than Brexit and Merkel’s problems cobbling together a governing coalition.
