Merkel Gets Backing for Fourth Term After Months of Suspense - WSJ - 0 views
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BERLIN—Germany’s Social Democrats agreed to prolong their unpopular ruling coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, ending a period of political uncertainty unprecedented in the country’s recent history.
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The vote lifted the last hurdle for Ms. Merkel to start her fourth, and likely last, term as leader of Europe’s largest economy nearly half a year after an inconclusive general election left the country without a clear ruling majority.
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Party officials said a new government would now be formed by March 14, replacing the caretaker administration that has govern the country since last September.
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including engaging in a debate on reforming the European Union launched by French President Emmanuel Macron who wants to overhaul Europe’s common currency, the euro.
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The protracted coalition-building was the longest since the Weimar Republic in the 1930s. Ms. Merkel’s early efforts to forge an alliance with the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens collapsed last November.
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The deal also included a pledge to increase Germany’s contribution to the EU budget to make up for the shortfall that will result from Britain leaving the bloc.
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“Building coalitions will be increasingly difficult, and governments will find it hard to forge a coherent policy platform,” Mr. Benner said.
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Ms. Merkel gradually squeezed out the SPD from the policy arena by appropriating traditional center-left ground. She abolished conscription, accelerated a planned nuclear energy phaseout, raised welfare entitlements, adopted a minimum wage and lowered the retirement age—all issues originally championed by the SPD.
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Hilde Mattheis, a senior SPD lawmaker who campaigned against the coalition, said the party would have to differentiate itself from the conservatives and tilt to the left to win back voters.