SPD votes on the coalition agreement It’ another slow week for German politics, what with the Mandela Memorial, near-civil war in Thailand, the standoff in Ukraine and the South Korean/Japanese Chinese skirmishes. BUT: a small-scale CDU party conference of some 180 delegates has approved unanimously of the CDU/CSU/SPD agreement (a ‘Coalition Treaty’ in German parlance,…
Federal investigators in Germany have launched a probe into 3300 unsolved cases of (attempted) murder. 746 crimes could have been committed by right-wingers for political reasons.
This weekend, the SPD held their party conference in Leipzig. In some alternate reality, this conference would have approved of the SPD/Green coalition agreement. On our plane, the party conference could be a turning point for the ongoing coalition talks. Or perhaps not. Also featuring: A ruse within a feint within a plot.
If you are a bit like me/bone lazy/easily distracted by lots of other interesting things, you could try to cover four of the five things students will actually remember the essentials of a one semester German politics class in about three seconds by mumbling “November 9”. If you are slightly more risk adverse, you could…
Angela Merkel’s triumph in the 2013 election was historic, but it came at a price. I discuss the likely impact on Europe in an opinion piece for Quartz, the Atlantic’s business news journal.
Interview with Al Jazeera’s Sam Bollier on the prospects of forming a Grand Coalition (CDU/SPD) after Merkel’s resounding victory. Germany’s Merkel looks for ‘grand coalition’ – Features – Al Jazeera English.
In Germany, people begin to realise that Merkel may have painted herself into a corner by winning so gloriously. While her Christian Democrats are by far the largest party group in the new Bundestag, she needs a coalition partner, but nobody wants to play. Merkel may have painted herself into a corner by winning so gloriously. This could still end in new elections or a minority government
We’re now officially in the final throes of a very bad case of election fever. Or at least the wonks are. Here is my latest take on the last polls. Bonus round: Why Bavaria does not mean a thing, and how this effects the Merkel-O-Meter.
I’ve been pooling the German pre-election polls since early this summer, and have published preliminary findings since August. People keep asking me the same questions, so here is my FAQ on pooling the polls.
State of Play: From Momentum to Peer’s Finger The German media have been particularly excitable this week. They kicked off with floating the idea that there was momentum in the polls (“SPD up by almost two points!”) and concluded with covering the infamous magazine cover portraying Peer Steinbrück flaunting his finger. Moreover, the idea that…