(MENAFN- Gulf Times) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, weakened by poor election results, yesterday began talks to forge an unlikely governing coalition from a motley crew of parties that span the political spectrum.
Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which won the September vote without obtaining a clear majority, launched exploratory talks with the liberal and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), the left-leaning and environmentalist Greens.
To avoid a breakdown that would force new elections, all sides will have to agree in the coming weeks on tough compromises on thorny topics ranging from immigration to EU reform to climate policy.
The CDU's general secretary, Peter Tauber, told reporters after the first round of talks with the Free Democrats (FDP) that while there were challenges ahead, it had been 'a very constructive first exchange.
'We have a good feeling, he said.
His FDP counterpart Nicola Beer was also upbeat. 'All options are still on the table for the Free Democrats, but we have taken the first steps on the path to common understandings, she said.
All sides are set to meet jointly tomorrow to open negotiations that could form a government by perhaps January in the biggest EU economy.
The alliance, which would be a first for Germany at the national level, has been dubbed 'Jamaica because the parties' colours match the Caribbean country's flag — black for the conservatives, yellow for the FDP and green for the Greens.
'Jamaica and Germany are 8,500km apart, Beer said. 'I think today the first few metres of that journey have gone well.
The delicate negotiations come as Merkel, long seen as Europe's most influential leader, is increasingly described as a lame duck, past the zenith of her power in what is widely expected to be her final term.
Critics are snapping at the heels of the veteran chancellor for delivering the worst election result for her Christian Democrats (CDU) since 1949, followed by a state election loss last Sunday.
The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Merkel was no longer invincible.
'If the CDU had any kind of challenger waiting in the wings, Merkel would have reason to worry, it wrote.
If trouble is brewing in Merkel's party, her more conservative Bavarian allies, the CSU, are in disarray, fearing another poll drubbing in state elections next year.
Having long railed against Merkel's decision to allow in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015, the CSU has signalled a sharp shift to the right to win back voters from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Horst Seehofer, head of Merkel's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, reiterated yesterday that limiting immigration was a 'very, very important goal.
The CSU's negotiator Alexander Dobrindt said earlier that Sunday's election victory in Austria of rightwing candidate Sebastian Kurz showed that the CDU/CSU must 'position ourselves as a conservative force in these negotiations.
Such talk only heightens distrust with the Greens, who emerged out of the 1960s and ‘70s protest movements against the Vietnam war and nuclear weapons and who favour a multicultural society that welcomes refugees.
Greens negotiator Juergen Trittin pointed to growing rightwing and populist tendencies in the CDU/CSU bloc and warned that their hardline demands on the refugee issue would present 'massive hurdles.
The FDP is an easier fit, having previously served with the conservatives for lengthy stretches until they humiliatingly crashed out of the Bundestag at the last election in 2013.
Its youthful leader Christian Lindner, who led the party back into the Bundestag, has presented his own tough demands as he eyes the powerful finance ministry.
On the eve of the talks, Lindner even cautioned Merkel to refrain from any bold moves at the EU level, especially if it cost German taxpayers, before a new government is formed.
'I expect Merkel...to make it clear that her government is only performing a caretaker role, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Given the competing interests, and the weeks of haggling over posts and policy ahead, the Spiegel Online news site predicted that 'with a bit of luck, Germany may have a new government by January.
'Germany is experiencing a strange phenomenon, it said in a commentary.
'A new coalition is being negotiated by parties who don't really want it, while the aura and the power of the former and future Chancellor Angela Merkel is crumbling.
(From left) Hesse's State Premier Volker Bouffier, Federal co-chairwoman of the Greens Simone Peter, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier, co-leaders of the Green Party Katrin Goering-Eckardt and Cem Ozdemir head for talks of potential coalition partners in Berlin yesterday.
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