A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Germany is getting a new chancellor.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Yeah. Results this morning indicate that Friedrich Merz's center-right Christian Democrats will be able to form a new government with only one coalition partner. That will likely return the country to a more stable, two-party government that ran Germany for most of the past three decades.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Berlin correspondent, Rob Schmitz, joins us now to talk about the results. So, Rob, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on his way out, which means Europe's biggest economy will have a new leader. So what was the big issue that decided this election?
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Well, for the most part, it was the struggling German economy. Scholz's government collapsed over a dispute about how to revive it. But it was also Scholz himself who's been the problem for voters. His slow, methodical approach to governing did not suit the chaotic times that Europe is in, with a war on European soil and an economic downturn. You know, these challenges required decisive action, and his three-party coalition government had a difficult time rising to the occasion.
MARTÍNEZ: So it's clear from the results that Germany will likely return to a two-party coalition government. How is it going to be different than the last administration?
SCHMITZ: Well, Scholz's center-left Social Democrats will likely remain in the government, but it's the center-right Christian Democrats under Friedrich Merz that will be in the driver's seat now, and Merz seems ready to move fast. He wants a government formed by mid-April, which is very quick for Germany, and he says he has big plans.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FRIEDRICH MERZ: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: He said last night that his No. 1 priority is to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that it can achieve independence from the United States. He went on to say, I never thought I'd be saying this, but after Donald Trump's statements last week, it's clear the Americans, or at least this administration, is indifferent to the fate of Europe. I want to point out here that Germany has long considered the U.S. as its most important ally, so this is truly an astonishing statement from an incoming German chancellor.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And one thing we should say here is that the far-right Alternative for Germany party came in a strong second place. They will not, though, be in government. Why not, Rob?
SCHMITZ: No. You know, Germany's parties in the political center vowed never to govern with AfD, the party's acronym in German. The AfD is under domestic surveillance for the threat it poses to Germany's democracy. And its members routinely trivialize German atrocities in World War II. Last night, Merz derided the AfD saying it was not interested in real solutions and that the AfD is happy to see Germany's problems get worse. He also criticized the AfD for its cozy relationship with Elon Musk.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh. And how did the AfD respond?
SCHMITZ: Well, the party's co-chair, Alice Weidel, said Merz's incoming government will not last long. Here's what she said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALICE WEIDEL: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: So she's saying here, Merz won't be able to form a stable government without the AfD, and that he will face the consequences when his government crashes and fails.
MARTÍNEZ: But will Merz have a stable government?
SCHMITZ: So I posed that question to the U.S. German Marshall Fund's Sudha David-Wilp. Here's what she said.
SUDHA DAVID-WILP: And now it's going to be difficult for this sort of grand coalition, but it needs to deliver reform. Otherwise, the AfD may be even stronger during the next German election, and even now it cannot be ignored because it will be the largest party in the opposition.
SCHMITZ: So she said, what this means is that Merz's incoming government will need to move toward the right to address voter concerns, like migration and a slowing German economy, and it's clear Germans really care about these things because voter turnout was 84%. That is the highest turnout since Germany's reunification in 1990.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Rob Schmitz. Rob, thanks.
SCHMITZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
