[Global Times Special Correspondent Aoki in Germany]After two months of negotiations, the German Social Democratic Party (red), Green Party (green) and Liberal Democratic Party (yellow) announced the alliance reached by the three parties at 3 pm local time on the 24th. Cabinet agreement. According to a report by German TV, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, the current Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Schultz will become the new prime minister.
According to the cabinet formation agreement, the German government will set up 17 departments, one more than the current caretaker government. The Social Democratic Party will receive seven ministerial positions, including the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Health, and the newly formed Minister of Construction and Housing. The Green Party will be in charge of six departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the expanded Ministry of Economy and Climate. The Liberal Democratic Party will lead 4 departments, including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice. At the press conference on Wednesday afternoon, the three ruling parties in Germany stated that the new government will lead the country to achieve “comprehensive reforms” and embrace a “new beginning” to deal with major challenges such as climate change.
The British “Guardian”, Political News Network and other media reported that the agreement to form a cabinet must be approved at the party congresses of the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Green Party will submit the agreement to the party members to vote. This process will begin on Thursday and will last for 10 days. If all parties agree to the agreement, Schultz will become German Chancellor in the week beginning on December 6, which also means that Merkel cannot replace Kohl as the longest post-war German Chancellor.
At the press conference on Wednesday, Scholtz mainly talked about the unity of EU countries and the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic. He said that “Sovereign Europe” will be the key to the foreign policy of the next German government. “As a European country with a strong economy and a large population, Germany’s mission is to make sovereign Europe possible, promote, and achieve development.” According to Bloomberg and other media reports, Schultz is regarded as a “Merkel-like” low-key pragmatist. He served as the German Finance Minister and the mayor of Hamburg for many years, and was already a heavyweight in the Social Democratic Party during Schroeder’s tenure as Chancellor.
After the successful formation of the cabinet, Germany will draw the curtain on the “Merkel era”, which also means that Germany’s relations with Europe and other countries in the world usher in a new era. CNN, Reuters and other media analyzed that the new German government will face multiple challenges, including the return of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the increasing uncertainty of EU diplomacy, and the deepening of the contradictions between Europe and Russia and Belarus. In addition, some political analysts worry that the three ruling parties in Germany will have difficulty in bridging the ideological differences, and Germany is the driving force of the European Union, which may lead to the paralysis of the 27 EU countries. Tensions within the new German government will test Schultz’s ability to balance the competitive agenda.
Scholtz said at a press conference on Wednesday that in the future, he will work with partner countries to promote global diversification and adhere to values such as democracy. According to the New York Times, most analysts expect the new German government to generally maintain the course set by the Merkel administration on a series of issues such as Europe, trade, and foreign policy. However, a series of emergency crises and the other two ruling parties may force Schultz to reconsider some past policies. The new German government may be more willing to support European integration and work with the United States to put pressure on China and Russia. Bloomberg believes that Germany may soon adopt a different posture on the world stage. The popular candidate for the German foreign minister and the leader of the Green Party, Berberk, called on Berlin to be more “decisive and confident” on the international stage. She has repeatedly criticized China for “violating human rights” and opposed Russia’s “Beixi-2” natural gas pipeline project.
In the previous coalition government’s cabinet formation agreement, “China” appeared five times. As of the press time of this newspaper, the media has not seen the details of the German cabinet formation agreement announced on Wednesday, so it is not yet known how many times “China” will appear in it. However, the foreign affairs experts of the three ruling parties in Germany have already put forward their views on foreign policy in October, which can be seen from the China policy of the new German government.
The spokesman for the Foreign Policy of the Social Democratic Bundestag Schmid said that the German government should take the initiative to formulate the EU’s China strategy and promote this change at the EU level in order to break the current “narrow” German-Chinese relations. Fogel, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the German-Chinese Relations Group of the Bundestag, emphasized that the new federal government should re-examine its relations with China and its economic dependence on China, and it should reduce trade and investment with China. Brandtnell, a member of the Green Party and European affairs expert, said that Germany and Europe should innovate technology in their own markets and establish partnerships with other countries to gradually get rid of their dependence on the Chinese market.
Experts from these three political parties also stated that transatlantic relations should be strengthened in the future, the division of labor between Europe and the United States should be clearer, and relations with Asian countries should be strengthened. Schmidt also said that it should try to strengthen Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including participation in the World Health Assembly. As for the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement, the three did not make a clear statement, but the Green Party believes that the conditions for signing the agreement should be increased. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung that it is wrong to completely delink from China, which will cause harm to Germany and Europe.Return to Sohu to see more
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