Anna-Lena Lauren: Merz managed with an emergency call

Never before has the Bundestag voted no to a chancellor candidate. When you get so far, the rest should be a formality.

The government agreement was clear – the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats had their own majority. The choice of Merz was considered safe.

But when the ballot papers were counted during the morning – the German Bundestag did not vote electronically but in election booths – six votes were made for Merz to be elected. He got 310 but needed 316.

To the matter Hear that The vote in the Bundestag is secret. Finding out who had voted down Merz had required an internal hearing, something that the government parties did not have time with. Merz invested his habit faithfully everything on a card and pushed through a new vote on the same day.

The wave game succeeded. In the afternoon he became Chancellor with 325 votes against 289.

In Germany Is that normal That processes take a long time. But it is not normal for an agreement that has been negotiated at the time of the decision cannot be trusted. No one had thought that the split within the government parties is so great.

Why did it occur? In Conservative Frankfurts Allgemeine Zeitung, commentator Bertold Kohler writes that it could possibly be about punishing Merz for his Collaboration with AfD last autumn. Kohler calls the action irresponsible. « It is difficult to understand that some still do not understand what is at stake, » he writes bitterly.

It is also possible that a number of Christian Democrats or Social Democrats had voted no to give Merz a snap on the nose. But they had not thought he would be dropped.

Both CDU and SPD have talked about the importance of shoulder a historical responsibility for Germany in troubled times. Nevertheless, it was very close that Merz would fall due to betrayal within his own ranks.

No good introduction to his course as Chancellor.

At the same time, the EU can Pull a sigh of relief. Germany’s former government, led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, was a red -green liberal government that constantly struggled. Since it burst in November last year and new elections were announced, Germany has lived in its own bubble. Berlin has been absent at all important meetings about, for example, the future defense of Ukraine, which means that the meetings have become half -time in practice. The problems are also long -term. The German economy, Europe’s largest, has shrunk for several consecutive years, which also slows down EU growth.

While Scholz’s government quarreled last fall, Donald Trump was elected US president. During the spring’s extended German government negotiations, Russia has moved the positions in Ukraine.

Friedrich Merz Have promised that Germany will soon be back on the international stage. Already on Wednesday he goes to France’s capital Paris and the same day on to Poland’s capital Warsaw.

At home he is now allowed to start uphill. The party that earns the most on the split is right -wing radical AfD. Its party chairman Alice Weidel smiled mockingly in the plenary hall when Merz was voted down in the first round.

The party that earns the most on the split is right -wing radical AfD.

Meanwhile, German commentators and analysts accuse the « old » parties of rattling the manege of the right -wing extremists.

« It is our political chaos in Germany that features AfD, » said journalist and commentator Hans-Ulrich Jörges in Die Welt’s live broadcast.

In today’s situation, it is difficult not to think about the 1920s Weimar Republic sometimes. Germany was then an open, democratic country, which was paralyzed by infinite conflicts between the democratic parties. It ended with the Nazis taking over. A situation like Germany is not near today. But the quarrels of the democratic parties – a problem during Scholz – does not seem to have decreased since the election.

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