German election: “a bitter day for social democracy”
Hans Kundnani
Steinmeier: "a bitter day for German social democracy"
Angela Merkel didn’t exactly win the German election last night, but she got what she wanted: a second term as chancellor, this time at the head of a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats. Merkel’s Christian Democrats actually did badly—their share of the vote dropped from the 35 per cent they held four years ago, to 34 per cent, the second-worst result in their history. But thanks to the geometry of German coalition politics and the spectacular success of the Free Democrats, who won 15 per cent of the vote—their best ever result—Merkel comes out of last night’s election stronger than she was before. It is a situation somewhat reminiscent of 2002, when the Greens saved Gerhard Schröder’s “red-green” government.
What this means in policy terms is by no means clear. Angela has been “set free” as the Economist hoped she would be, but it’s not clear that Germany’s budget deficit, which is expected to exceed six per cent of GDP next year, will allow her to cut taxes as it wants her to. Nevertheless, it is somewhat of a paradox that Germany may have its most Hayekian government at a time when everyone else has become more Keynesian. Much will depend on how much Merkel, who for the past four years has co-operated so well with the Social Democrats that the lines between the two parties became blurred, is able to control the Free Democrats’ more aggressively liberal instincts. She is such a pragmatist that, even after four years as chancellor, no one really knows what she stands for.
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