The winner of the German elections, Friedrich Merz, closed an agreement on Wednesday to form a new government that aspires to boost economic growth, increase the expenditure in defense, adopt a strictest approach in immigration matters and catch up on the modernization long negligible. The agreement rays the path for a new leadership in the most populous member of the European Union of 27 nations, which has the largest economy in Europe. This follows months of political stagnation and weeks of negotiations while the continent faces uncertainty for the generalized tariffs of the Donald Trump government and their commitment to the defense of European allies. Merz is on its way to becoming the new leader of Germany in early May, replacing the outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The bipartisan block of the 69 -year -old Union, became the strongest force of the German elections of February 23. Merz resorted to the Social Democrats, Scholz’s center -left party, to form a coalition with a parliamentary majority. Photo: EFE Message for Donald Trumpantes that Merz can assume leadership, the coalition agreement must be approved in two voting of the members of the Social Democrats and a convention of the MERZ CDU on April 28. Once these obstacles have been exceeded, the Lower House of Parliament, in which the allies have 328 of the 630 seats, can choose it as head of government. Merz said that the agreement is “a very strong and clear sign for the people of our country, and also a clear sign for our partners in the European Union: Germany is obtaining a government that is capable of acting and will act strongly.” When he asked for his message to the US president, Merz replied: “The key message for Donald Trump is that Germany is again going. Germany will fulfill its obligations in defense and German willing to reinforce your own competitiveness. ” And he added: “We will advance to the European Union.” The budding coalition undertook a great project before reaching an agreement to govern together. Last month, he promoted plans through Parliament to allow a greater expense in defense by more flexible debt rules and establish a huge infrastructure fund aimed at promoting the stagnant economy. That was a turn for Merz, whose party had manifested against incurring new debt before the elections, without completely closing the door to future changes in the “debt brake” self -imposed from Germany. Modernization and economic plans Other measures in the agreement are more in line with what Merz defended in his campaign. The coalition aims to increase the investment of companies and then reduce the corporate tax, make work overtime more attractive and reduce the electricity tax. Friedrich Merz awaits the affirmative vote of their party and social democrats to become German chancellor. Photo: Efe Attends a Press Conference to present the Joint Coalition Agreement in the German Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, 09 April 2025. The CDU, The Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) will have Successfully Concluded Coalition Negotiones. (Germany) EFE/EPA/Christoph Soedemerz, the opposition leader at that time, made the reduction of migration a central theme of his electoral campaign. On Wednesday, he said that the new government will suspend family gatherings for many migrants, will designate more “Safe Origin”, will launch an “return offensive” for rejected asylum applicants and return some people at the borders of Germany in consultation with the neighbors. It will also harden a law approved by the outgoing government that facilitated the rules to obtain citizenship, eliminating the possibility that well -integrated applicants obtain a German passport after three instead of five years of residence. The new government will include a “ministry of digitalization” to modernize a country that still has a reputation for tangled bureaucracy and outdated paper. “Not everything has to be regulated to the smallest detail,” said the collide of the Social Democrats, Lars Klingbeil. “Excavators must work and fax machines in our country must be discarded. Our economy must grow.” But, referring to the United States government efficiency department, he said they do not plan to do so by saying workers. “We are not hiring an Elon Musk here who will do it as they do in Washington,” he said. “We will do it … sensitively, with a sense of the proportion.” The elections were held seven months earlier than expected after the unpopular coalition of Scholz Collapsara in November, after three years of an executive increasingly marked by internal struggles and a generalized discontent. Germany, the most populous member of the European Union of 27 nations, has been in a political limbo since then. The turbulence of the market caused by the generalized tariffs announced by Donald Trump, added pressure so that the MERZ CDU and the Social Democrats concluded their coalition conversations. Tariffs threaten to aggravate the problems of an export -oriented economy that contracted during the last two years. Another factor in the hurry to reach an agreement was a decline for union in opinion surveys, showing decreasing support from its electoral result, while alternative ultra -right formation for Germany, which ended in a firm second place in February, won ground while persisted by political emptiness. “The political center in our country is in a position to solve the problems we face,” said Merz. The ministers will be appointed at a later date.
After months of political crisis, they reach an agreement to form government in Germany
