The European institutions commented in their own way on Monday 27 September on the results of the German parliamentary elections, which mark the end of a 16-year period during which Angela Merkel has led Germany.
“We do not have any comment to offer about the results of the elections in Germany, or any recent elections. We always follow their developments in the EU, but we never comment on them”, said the European Commission’s deputy spokesperson, Dana Spinant. When asked by the press, she said that the Commission used to congratulate new Prime Ministers or new actors who were elected “regardless of their political colour”. “However, that is different to commenting on results of a national election where a government has not yet been formed”, she said.
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, welcomed the victory of the Social Democratic Party SPD. “After this historic crisis, there is no time to lose. Europe needs a strong and reliable partner in Berlin to continue our common work for a social and green recovery”, he commented.
The S&D group in the European Parliament is over the moon. After “the SPD’s victory in the parliamentary elections, with 25.7%, making it the largest parliamentary group”, the S&D group in the European Parliament congratulated its candidate, Olaf Scholz, for his “successful campaign”. “The elections in Germany send a clear message in favour of strong social democracy and progressive policies throughout Europe”, he said in a statement.
For its leader, Spanish MEP Iratxe García Pérez, the results of the vote are “very good news for the European Union, because it can bring new impetus to the reforms we need to adapt to the digital age and to respond to new global challenges”.
Jens Geier, head of the German SPD delegation in the S&D group, said that the ecological and digital transformation of society requires a “social dimension”. “An SPD-led government would do this and also increase the pressure for the implementation of the European Green Deal”, he said.
The chairman of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, Romanian Dacian Cioloș, noted with satisfaction the results, which he said “strengthen the liberal voice in the Bundestag”, with “impressive support” from the young German side.
ALDE co-chair Timmy Dooley congratulated the liberal FDP and its leader Christian Lindner “for the excellent results”. He said he was convinced that the FDP “will play its part in ensuring that Germany remains a strong, stable and forward-looking force in Europe”.
The co-chair of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts from Belgium, congratulated the German Greens “for their best result ever”. According to him “the next (German) government must now decide on ambitious climate action”.
The Franco-German couple will survive
On the French side, no statement was issued by the Elysée. For the time being, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, has not sought to communicate on the subject on social networks.
On Monday morning, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, said on the public channel France 2 that he did not fear a possible change of line by Germany, given that all German coalition parties are pro-European.
Unprecedented results
Merkel’s departure from the chancellery reshuffles the deck. The results are close between the two major German political parties, the CDU-CSU coalition, or “Union”, led by Armin Laschet, and the SPD, led by Olaf Scholz.
In the end, the latter party came first, with 25.7% of the votes cast (11.9 million votes). The SPD narrowly edged out the Christian Democrats, who obtained 24.1% of the vote (11.1 million votes), their worst score since the Second World War.
Led by Annalena Baerbock, the green party Die Grünen came third with 14.8% of the vote (6.8 million votes), followed by Christian Lindner’s FDP (11.5%, 5.3 million votes), the far-right AfD (10.3%, 4.8 million votes) and the radical left-wing party Die Linke (4.9%, 2.2 million votes).
There is now a period of negotiations between the parties likely to form a stable coalition, which should be concluded by the end of the year. Die Linke’s poor showing reduces the range of choices for the SPD. Currently, the coalition options offering a solid parliamentary majority are: - SPD, Die Grünen and FDP; - the Union, Die Grünen and FDP; - finally, the grand coalition (GroKo) of the Union and the SPD. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur and Pascal Hansens)