Afraid of Angela
The Social Democrats are divided over whether to enter a coalition
IT IS unusual after a federal election for a German president to summon the leaders of the main parties to Schloss Bellevue, his seat in Berlin. But this week Joachim Gauck invited first Angela Merkel, the chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and then Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD). Along with the CDU’s Bavarian sister party (the CSU), the parties were to begin exploratory talks on October 4th over a possible coalition. But the odds of success are bad enough for Mr Gauck to feel he needs to cajole.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Afraid of Angela”
From the October 5th 2013 edition
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