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00:00Hello everyone, I'm François Picard.
00:12It's what Germans call a grand coalition.
00:15The two big tent parties agreeing on a government six weeks after elections
00:20that put the CDU of Friedrich Merck's tops
00:23and relegated the SPD of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz
00:26to third place behind the far right.
00:28Six weeks can seem long to form a government,
00:32but in Germany that is speedy.
00:35And with all the challenges that await both domestically and abroad,
00:42it helped move along those negotiations.
00:49The coalition agreement now before us
00:52is the result of intensive consultations and negotiations.
00:56It is, above all, a very strong and very clear signal to the citizens of our country.
01:03And it is also a clear signal to our partners in the European Union.
01:09Germany will have a strong government capable of taking action.
01:13The political center of our country is in a position to solve the problems we are facing.
01:20The future government, the future coalition will reform and invest in order to keep Germany stable,
01:26make it more secure and make it economically stronger again.
01:31And Europe can also rely on Germany.
01:33Our coverage begins in Berlin with correspondent Nick Holdsworth.
01:39Nick, what more do we know?
01:44Stable, safer and economically stable.
01:47That's Friedrich Merck's central message as he announced the agreement for the coalition
01:54that will govern Germany for the next four years, 148-page agreement document with plenty of detail.
02:02He's doing what he's been saying all along.
02:05He's going to be tough on immigration,
02:07stopping asylum seekers at Germany's borders,
02:11denying them entry,
02:13repatriating people,
02:15widening the list of so-called safe countries
02:18so that people from those countries won't be able to apply for asylum,
02:23reducing the ability of people already here
02:25to have family reunification
02:28and reducing another thing that the Germans introduced recently,
02:33which was a three-year path to getting a German passport
02:38for people who had achieved a certain level of the German language
02:42and had integrated well.
02:44That will be scrapped.
02:45And these are all policies that are going to be taken,
02:47some of the thunder out of the far right, the AFG,
02:51who have reacted fairly angrily to the coalition statements today.
02:55They're very critical of it.
02:57On wider economic themes,
03:00Merck says that he's going to reduce red tape,
03:02his message to Donald Trump,
03:05his Germany is back on track,
03:08and he will work with the other European Union member countries
03:12to see if they can reduce those tariffs
03:15which Donald Trump has introduced calls and havoc in markets across the world.
03:20Yeah, the tariffs,
03:22the way that the U.S. vice president
03:27met with the far-right leader
03:28instead of the outgoing chancellor
03:30at the Munich Security Conference,
03:32all these elements that help concentrate the minds.
03:36How much of a change are we going to see from this German government?
03:38In some ways, it's going to be business as usual.
03:44With this coalition, we've got a couple of key cabinet posts
03:47which are likely to go to Social Democrat Party leaders.
03:53The defence minister, very popular.
03:56Boris Pistorius, likely to stay in defence.
03:58And finance, likely to go to the Social Democrats.
04:02Foreign policy, the chancellor and other key ministries
04:07obviously will be with the CDU.
04:10So there will be continuity in some senses.
04:13What's new will be this drive to reduce red tape.
04:18Friedrich Mertz is a businessman.
04:19He forged a successful career as an international investment manager
04:24after he stepped away from politics
04:27when Angela Merkel became the chancellor candidate some years ago.
04:33And he wants to see reduced red tape, lower costs,
04:37easier agreements and permissions for businesses.
04:40Wants to reduce the cost of energy
04:43by reducing taxes on gas for Germans, for German companies too.
04:47And basically, he wants to reinvigorate the economy,
04:51use digital means more effectively,
04:54like other countries across the EU,
04:56want to use AI more effectively.
04:59And basically, put this country back on the road
05:04to the sort of success it's enjoyed in the past
05:06so that in four years' time, when there's a new round of elections,
05:08they will be able to see off the threat of the far right, the AFD,
05:12who today, a poll suggests,
05:15if there were an election tomorrow,
05:17would get 25% of the vote in this country.
05:20That's 1% more than the CDU could expect.
05:23Nick, stay with us,
05:24because we're going to stay in Berlin with Markus Zener,
05:27visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund.
05:30Thank you for speaking with us here on France 24.
05:34Thanks for having me.
05:36Six weeks to form a coalition government.
05:38Is that because there were only two parties negotiating,
05:42or is it because of all that's going on,
05:45both domestically and in the outside world?
05:49Yeah, both is true.
05:50I mean, it's only two parties instead of three,
05:52as we had in the previous government,
05:53which was quite difficult to basically get them all on the same page.
06:00But I think what's more important is the fact that there are so many foreign policy issues pressing right now,
06:08that I think there is this need for getting things done quickly, I think,
06:14and getting this government together quickly.
06:16I think that was obvious.
06:18And you heard Nick Holdsworth say,
06:20the emphasis put by Friedrich Mertz on cutting red tape.
06:24Is that the carrot to his own base?
06:26After all, he's having to sell them what he did not campaign on,
06:30which is increased spending, particularly on defense.
06:36Yeah, well, I think Friedrich Mertz, the designated new chancellor,
06:40he fully understands that what he needs most is actually to somewhere get the money from,
06:48to finance all what he wants and has to do.
06:51And for this respect, actually, you need an economy that's thriving, that's working,
06:59that's producing tax revenues.
07:02And this is why he was focusing so much on competitiveness of the German economy.
07:08And it was already mentioned that the energy price,
07:11the price for electricity should be lowered by five cents, which is quite a bit.
07:15So that's basically done through cutting back on the electricity tax.
07:20Then competitiveness is supposed to be strengthened in a number of ways.
07:25Red tape, yeah, sure.
07:26That's what everybody, what every government actually is promising,
07:29that to cut back on red tape.
07:31At this time, I think they're very serious about it.
07:33And, yeah, and then I think they, given the fact that we are basically in a trade war with the United States
07:43and that Germany is selling so much to the U.S., we're going, we're going to see tough times.
07:50So it's more than, it's very important to get the economy back on track.
07:54Important to get the economy back on track.
07:56Let me ask you, it's called a grand coalition when you have the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
08:01Marcus, when the Social Democrats polled third, their numbers in the teens,
08:09and yet they still get the finance and the defence portfolio, what does that tell you?
08:16Well, first of all, I mean, it's really not a grand coalition anymore, given the numbers.
08:20I mean, the CDU had 28%, 29%, and the SPD, 16%.
08:25So that's not really big, two big parties now forming a coalition.
08:29This is, this is, this is different.
08:33I think two things here.
08:35The one is that the most popular minister in Germany is the defence minister.
08:41It's Boris Pistorius, and he's with the Social Democrats.
08:44So it would have been very unwise by Friedrich Merz to,
08:48to not leave the Ministry of Defence to the Social Democrats, number one.
08:53Number two, there was basically no alternative for the CDU to form a government.
08:58I mean, the Green Party had not enough, did not get enough votes to be a coalition partner for a two-way coalition.
09:07And then there's the AfD and the left party, and they're both out of question to form, forming a coalition with,
09:14though there was only the SPD.
09:15And for that reason, I think, well, for the Social Democrats, it was a very convenient and very beneficial bargaining situation.
09:25So they could ask for much, and obviously they got a lot.
09:30Now, Boris Pistorius, the defence minister, the outgoing one,
09:34polls suggest the most popular member of that outgoing government,
09:39most popular politician inside the SPD.
09:41How long will the honeymoon last between him and Friedrich Merz?
09:47As long as he's not going to challenge Friedrich Merz.
09:52I mean, I think he has his, both Pistorius, I think he has his hands full to reorganise the German Bundeswehr.
09:59We all know that the German army, the German defence is in bad shape,
10:03even though that already three years ago there was this extra fund of 100 billion.
10:08But procurement is sluggish.
10:11It takes a long time to get, well, new installments of products and of weaponry.
10:19Then also Germany has given a lot to Ukraine.
10:22So there is a lack of all those defence equipment that's needed.
10:28And this takes time.
10:29And I think to change the Minister of Defence at this point would be very, very unwise,
10:35because it takes a lot of time to really get into this whole,
10:39into the nitty-gritty of this very complicated ministry.
10:44One last question.
10:45I'll put it to Nick Holdworth, our correspondent.
10:47Nick, there's a meeting of EU defence ministers on Thursday in Brussels,
10:52a meeting of EU finance ministers to talk defence in Warsaw on Saturday.
10:56What's the mood in Germany when it comes to, again, this sea change,
11:01when it comes to spending on defence and weaning itself off the US defence umbrella?
11:11I think Germans, along with most Europeans,
11:13understand that we're now living in a totally new world
11:16and that we can't rely upon Donald Trump's America anymore,
11:20not for defence nor for economic, global economic rules.
11:25Everything's been tossed up in the air.
11:27And Friedrich Merz is, if nothing else, a realist.
11:30And he clearly wants to work with his European partners.
11:34He wants to forge stronger relations with France and Poland.
11:37He wants to bring the UK more and more back into the fold.
11:41And the British government has even today suggested
11:43that they are looking for closer economic links with the European Union.
11:48That's a little bit short of rejoining the EU,
11:51but they certainly want to come closer because everyone understands
11:54that if Europe doesn't pull together, it's nowhere.
11:57There are threats all over the place, economically, threats militarily from Russia.
12:03And Merz is very keen to concentrate on making Germany, again,
12:08part of the heart of the EU.
12:10So we always had France and Germany at the heart of the EU.
12:14And he would, as I've just mentioned, like to have the UK a lot closer to the EU
12:18because that is what is required now in a world that has suddenly became a lot more unstable
12:23and in some ways more dangerous than it was just a few months ago.
12:27Nick Holdsworth, I want to thank you alongside Marcus Zener
12:30for being with us from the German capital.
12:33Thank you all.