The Federal election in Germany will be held tomorrow. Germany has a mixed-member proportional system somewhat akin to NZ’s.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is not running and leadership of the Christian Democratic Union has passed to Armin Laschet.

The only two parties that might lead government are the SPD and CDU/CSU. Either would have to form a coalition with minor parties
Polling seems to indicate this will be a close run election. The Social Democrats have their noses in front at present but neither outcome would be a surprise.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58655702

> Angela Merkel

I have an enormous amount of respect for Angela Merkel. I don’t say that about many people.
Perhaps I shouldn’t?

> Armin Laschet

That’s an unfortunate name. Armin la what?

In Germany, the Greens have a large following. If they win power, it would be worthwhile watching what happens. Watch how the conflict between idealism vs political expediency pans out.

mollwollfumble said:

> Angela Merkel

I have an enormous amount of respect for Angela Merkel. I don’t say that about many people.
Perhaps I shouldn’t?

> Armin Laschet

That’s an unfortunate name. Armin la what?

In Germany, the Greens have a large following. If they win power, it would be worthwhile watching what happens. Watch how the conflict between idealism vs political expediency pans out.

They’ll need more of a kick along. https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/germany/

Angelia’s right wing government has served Germany well but they have been in power for a long time now.
Maybe a bit of input from the left for a while wouldn’t go astray, the “it’s time” factor could be at play.

Peak Warming Man said:

Angelia’s right wing government has served Germany well but they have been in power for a long time now.
Maybe a bit of input from the left for a while wouldn’t go astray, the “it’s time” factor could be at play.

The centre right CDU/CSU and centre left SPD have been in coalition for the past 5 years so government has been very consensus driven for that time.

I didn’t realise until today.

Angel Merkel “obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989”.

No wonder I haver a high respect for her.

mollwollfumble said:

I didn’t realise until today.

Angel Merkel “obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist until 1989”.

No wonder I haver a high respect for her.

Yes. in East Germany.

SCIENCE said:

That’s unfair. She’s got all the brains and nous and he’s got none.

buffy said:

SCIENCE said:

That’s unfair. She’s got all the brains and nous and he’s got none.

And he’s doing the crossed arms and the not looking her in the eye thing.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Some birds are more polite. My sister and friend at Healesville Sanctuary some years ago.

Witty Rejoinder said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tszidfq32DQ

Angela Merkel Can’t Stop Rolling Her Eyes

an oldie but a goodie.

It’s not all about policies, you’ve got to know what the Teutonic people like, little things like hand gestures can make all the difference.

national social democrats

SCIENCE said:

national social democrats

Fingers apart not together.

Tamb said:

SCIENCE said:

national social democrats

Fingers apart not together.

international social democrats

Social Democrats will gain the most seats but negotiations will take place to form government.

The Greens have done very well and SDP + Greens + FDP would be enough. FDP are a centrist party.

Might be difficult for Christian Democrats to put a coalition together.

Commentators are saying it’s unlikely the CDU would support the SDP in government

Looks like Social Democrats plus The Left plus Greens = 49.4% of the seats, that would have been a nice and easy coalition to manage.

Bogsnorkler said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tszidfq32DQ

Angela Merkel Can’t Stop Rolling Her Eyes

an oldie but a goodie.

LOLOL Never saw that it’s hilarious!

Christian Democratic Union’s 24% voteshare is their worst result ever.

https://twitter.com/norazabel/status/1453027055881310217

SCIENCE said:

https://twitter.com/norazabel/status/1453027055881310217

Nein sprechan das Deutch.

Witty Rejoinder said:

SCIENCE said:

https://twitter.com/norazabel/status/1453027055881310217

Nein sprechan das Deutch.

me neither so i haven’t a clue whet you wrote there witty!

Witty Rejoinder said:

SCIENCE said:

https://twitter.com/norazabel/status/1453027055881310217

Nein sprechan das Deutch.

If Only They’d Won World War Two

SCIENCE said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

SCIENCE said:

https://twitter.com/norazabel/status/1453027055881310217

Nein sprechan das Deutch.

If Only They’d Won World War Two

Ms Merkel, who is no longer a member of parliament, looked on from the spectators’ gallery as parliament voted. Politicians gave her a standing ovation as the session started.

More to come.

SCIENCE said:

Ms Merkel, who is no longer a member of parliament, looked on from the spectators’ gallery as parliament voted. Politicians gave her a standing ovation as the session started.

More to come.

As expected, Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats is the new Chancellor.

Good Guys With Guns Would Never Have Let This Happen

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-26/shooting-kills-two-hamburg-germany/102147660

dv said:

JudgeMental said:

I see the guy who rammed his car into the crowd in germany was a zionist.

Alternative für Deutschland supporter. Kind of a weird profile.

So he was defending himself then, fair play.

Faeser said on Sunday the task was to “paint a picture” of a suspect “who does not fit any existing mould”. He had acted in “an unbelievably cruel and brutal manner, like an Islamist terrorist, though he was clearly ideologically hostile to Islam”, she said.

Nice blame¡

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-27/german-president-announces-february-snap-elections/104767004

The Federal election will be held tomorrow, though we here in Australia won’t be seeing any results until Monday.

Like NZ, Germany uses a mixed representation system, where people vote for a particular constituent representative, but also vote for a party for the purpose of proportional representation using overhang members drawn from a list. If you’re a smaller party that doesn’t really have enough votes in any one area to win seats, then your only shot is to get those overhang members, but you need to beat a 5% minimum nationally to get those. If you get 4.9%, you get nothing, Good Day sir!

There are four major parties who are pretty much assured of getting past that 5% minimum.

CDU/CSU: Germany’s major centre-right party. The party of Merkel is now led by Friedrich Merz, who took over from Merkel in 2022. He is on the conservative side of the party and has relatively strict migration policies.

SPD: Social democrats, the major centre-left party. Scholtz is the leader and current chancellor

AfD: the far right. They have a dual leadership structure.

Greens: well you know what Greens are. They also have a dual leadership structure.

There are four other parties that might get seats:

FDP: right of centre but kind of socially liberal

The Left: the largest socialist party

BSW: weird kind of socialist but socially conservative party? Opposed to EU, not keen on renewables but big on nationalisation and social programs. They split off from the Left.

The election would, in the normal course of events, not have been held until late in the year, but the collapse of the three-party governing coalition necessitated an early election. The coalition had been led by the SPD, supported by the liberal FDP and Greens. It proved impossible to find compromise between the Greens and FDP.

If recent polling is anything to go by, the biggest party in the Bundestag will be the CDU/CSU, and probably AdF will be the second largest. All the parties other than AdF have a pact not to form government with AdF and we might well be back to a CDU/CSU led coalition with the SPD.

Recent polling has been about

CDU/CSU 30% AdF 20% SPD 15% Green 13% Left 7% BSW 5% FDP 5%

Under Merz I don’t think the Left, Greens or BSW could have place in the government. So, I would think the governing coalition will be either CDU/CSU-SPD or CDU/CSU-SPD-FDP

dv said:

The election would, in the normal course of events, not have been held until late in the year, but the collapse of the three-party governing coalition necessitated an early election. The coalition had been led by the SPD, supported by the liberal FDP and Greens. It proved impossible to find compromise between the Greens and FDP.

If recent polling is anything to go by, the biggest party in the Bundestag will be the CDU/CSU, and probably AdF will be the second largest. All the parties other than AdF have a pact not to form government with AdF and we might well be back to a CDU/CSU led coalition with the SPD.

Recent polling has been about

CDU/CSU 30% AdF 20% SPD 15% Green 13% Left 7% BSW 5% FDP 5%

Under Merz I don’t think the Left, Greens or BSW could have place in the government. So, I would think the governing coalition will be either CDU/CSU-SPD or CDU/CSU-SPD-FDP

Counting is ongoing but so far the results are pretty much in line with polling.

If BSW does not exceed 5% then CDU/CSU plus SPD will be enough to get past 50% of seats and I expect that’s how it will go.

If BSW does get 5%, then they are also entitled to seats, which would mean CDU/CSU + SPD will not quite be 50% of seats. It appears the other centre right party FDP is not going to reach the threshold, but the only parties are left wing parties (Greens, BSW, the Left). It would be an awkward coalition and might suffer the same instabilities as the previous one unless everyone stays cool in order to remove the temptation for CDU/CSU to call on the AfD. So all things considered it might be better if BSW does not reach the threshold. Counting is as I say ongoing.

Ohhhh well that explains this.

Divine Angel said:

Ohhhh well that explains this.

It’s a decent result. A CDU/CSU – SPD coalition will be pretty boring but boring is what’s needed right now from the leader of the free world

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

dv said:

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

Europe should be able to get it’s act together to counter an aggressive Russia without help from the USA.
Military equipment is a commercial deal and even so you should not be too dependent on a third party for that.

dv said:

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

Good to see they’re being realistic about it.

No more “Just be patient and wait for Trump to go” nonsense, the world situation is too urgent and the USA may continue down the loony path for generations yet.

Cymek said:

dv said:

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

Europe should be able to get it’s act together to counter an aggressive Russia without help from the USA.
Military equipment is a commercial deal and even so you should not be too dependent on a third party for that.

Quite.
Even after Trump there could be 8 years of Vance, basically like Trump but of average intelligence, and then God knows who.

dv said:

Cymek said:

dv said:

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

Europe should be able to get it’s act together to counter an aggressive Russia without help from the USA.
Military equipment is a commercial deal and even so you should not be too dependent on a third party for that.

Quite.
Even after Trump there could be 8 years of Vance, basically like Trump but of average intelligence, and then God knows who.

If he plays his cards right, Vance could have 10 years in power.

dv said:

Cymek said:

dv said:

Germany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead
Election winner likens the Trump administration to Putin’s Russia as he bids to take Europe in a new direction.
https://www.politico.eu/article/friedrich-merz-germany-election-united-states-donald-trump-nato/
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz did not even wait for the final results in Germany’s election before delivering what could well be a defining verdict on U.S. President Donald Trump, consigning Europe’s 80-year alliance with the United States to the past.

The Trump administration does not care about Europe and is aligning with Russia, said Merz, who is on course to become Germany’s new leader. The continent, he warned, must urgently strengthen its defenses and potentially even find a replacement for NATO — within months.

Merz’s comments mark a historic watershed: They reveal how deeply Trump has shaken the political foundations of Europe, which has depended on American security guarantees since 1945.

Europe should be able to get it’s act together to counter an aggressive Russia without help from the USA.
Military equipment is a commercial deal and even so you should not be too dependent on a third party for that.

Quite.
Even after Trump there could be 8 years of Vance, basically like Trump but of average intelligence, and then God knows who.

Vance is an opportunist, not a leader. I doubt he will rise to the surface unless that happens whilst he is VP.

Michael V said:

dv said:

Cymek said:

Europe should be able to get it’s act together to counter an aggressive Russia without help from the USA.
Military equipment is a commercial deal and even so you should not be too dependent on a third party for that.

Quite.
Even after Trump there could be 8 years of Vance, basically like Trump but of average intelligence, and then God knows who.

Vance is an opportunist, not a leader. I doubt he will rise to the surface unless that happens whilst he is VP.

Well, with Musk pulling the strings…

Divine Angel said:

Michael V said:

dv said:

Quite.
Even after Trump there could be 8 years of Vance, basically like Trump but of average intelligence, and then God knows who.

Vance is an opportunist, not a leader. I doubt he will rise to the surface unless that happens whilst he is VP.

Well, with Musk pulling the strings…

Fair.

It would take some doing for the US to completely disengage from Europe militarily. They have dozens of military bases there, station about 100 nuclear weapons there, about 50000 troops.
The cost of undoing all this would be considerable so one would imagine that the brass on both sides are rather hoping that this all blows over…

dv said:

It would take some doing for the US to completely disengage from Europe militarily. They have dozens of military bases there, station about 100 nuclear weapons there, about 50000 troops.
The cost of undoing all this would be considerable so one would imagine that the brass on both sides are rather hoping that this all blows over…

so the deep state is real

The final turnout was 82.5%.

This is an increase from 76.6% in 2021, and the highest turnout since reunification.

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

party_pants said:

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

I’m not ready for nuclear arms, period.

Michael V said:

party_pants said:

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

I’m not ready for nuclear arms, period.

They cannot be univented.

party_pants said:

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

I doubt they want to be the ones to break that seal.

But lpitw, they can pay France to make nuclear weapons which can then be hosted in Germany

dv said:

party_pants said:

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

I doubt they want to be the ones to break that seal.

But lpitw, they can pay France to make nuclear weapons which can then be hosted in Germany

Yeah. That might work. Maybe Poland too.

party_pants said:

Is the word ready for a nuclear armed Germany?

I think i am.

… and Japan too

Let’s face it:

if UIkraine had held on to just one nuclear weapon, Putin would have had serious second thoughts about the invasion.

https://youtu.be/hBYSk1YWyJo?si=aCC4AB6ZvVIlDmzQ

Merz plans to use the old Bundestag (parliament) to raise the debt limit in order to fund military spending. The new one doesn’t sit until 25 March.

A two-thirds majority is needed in order to increase the debt limit.

dv said:

https://youtu.be/hBYSk1YWyJo?si=aCC4AB6ZvVIlDmzQ

Merz plans to use the old Bundestag (parliament) to raise the debt limit in order to fund military spending. The new one doesn’t sit until 25 March.

A two-thirds majority is needed in order to increase the debt limit.

This was achieved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU5qPl4Rd08&t=1s
Germany’s passes trillion-euro bill to boost spending on defense, infrastructure, climate

The CDU/CSU and Social Democrats had to come to an accommodation with the Greens in order to reach 2/3. They promised 100 billion Euros for climate protection measures.

Mr Weimer’s proposal was not welcomed by everyone. An MP from the far-Right AfD party wrote on X: “The German government wants to make Germany the world centre of Islamism and anti-Semitism.”

damn it we remember when life was simple and the code words for unquestioning agreement were always CHINA and communism

Veterans Day: ‘Visibility, recognition, respect’ for German troops
The president of the German parliament, Julia Klöckner, officially opened the country’s first national Veterans Day on Sunday, saying it was “high time” for such an occasion.

“This day has created something which has always been lacking: public visibility, recognition and respect for all those who have served in our country’s armed forces,” she said at an event in Berlin.

Speaking on a stage in front of the Reichstag, the seat of Germany’s parliament, Klöckner highlighted the role of the German army, known as the Bundeswehr, as a “parliamentary army” which is answerable to parliament – as opposed to an individual head of state as commander-in-chief.

“That is why we as parliamentarians carry particular responsibility,” she said. “And today, we honor those people who were prepared to serve this country, our country, our values.”

Writing on social media, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the Bundeswehr a “key component of our society” and said: “The men and women who serve, or have served, in it deserve our thanks, our recognition and our respect. This service for our country belongs in center of our society.”

On Saturday, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius praised the professionalism of German troops and said that the challenges facing them will increase in years to come.

“In the last two-and-a-half years, I have experienced first hand the professionalism of our troops, whether on exercises at home or abroad, in tanks or planes, on NATO’s eastern flank in Lithuania or when evacuating citizens in Sudan,” he told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

“The threat has increased in recent years,” he nevertheless warned. “We have to be clear: we have to be able to defend our country and our alliance if it is attacked.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15164671/Ex-German-Chancellor-71-blames-Poland-Baltic-states-Putins-war-Ukraine.html

Wow

The EU should have begun cutting trade with Russia as soon as they took Crimea.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-08/herdecke-mayor-iris-stalzer-stabbed-in-germany-/105864280

https://www.dagens.com/politics/germany-steps-in-to-pay-us-base-staff-in-october

In a move highlighting the ongoing financial impasse in Washington, Germany will cover the salaries of thousands of civilian staff working at American military bases on its soil this October.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed the decision on Wednesday, calling it an “exceptional expense.”

dv said:

https://www.dagens.com/politics/germany-steps-in-to-pay-us-base-staff-in-october

In a move highlighting the ongoing financial impasse in Washington, Germany will cover the salaries of thousands of civilian staff working at American military bases on its soil this October.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed the decision on Wednesday, calling it an “exceptional expense.”

so that kkk guy is a genius, getting lazy NATO countries to finally pay their fair share

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

https://www.dagens.com/politics/germany-steps-in-to-pay-us-base-staff-in-october

In a move highlighting the ongoing financial impasse in Washington, Germany will cover the salaries of thousands of civilian staff working at American military bases on its soil this October.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed the decision on Wednesday, calling it an “exceptional expense.”

so that kkk guy is a genius, getting lazy NATO countries to finally pay their fair share

Method in Madness?

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

https://www.dagens.com/politics/germany-steps-in-to-pay-us-base-staff-in-october

In a move highlighting the ongoing financial impasse in Washington, Germany will cover the salaries of thousands of civilian staff working at American military bases on its soil this October.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed the decision on Wednesday, calling it an “exceptional expense.”

so that kkk guy is a genius, getting lazy NATO countries to finally pay their fair share

Ha!

:)

roughbarked said:

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

https://www.dagens.com/politics/germany-steps-in-to-pay-us-base-staff-in-october

In a move highlighting the ongoing financial impasse in Washington, Germany will cover the salaries of thousands of civilian staff working at American military bases on its soil this October.

The German Finance Ministry confirmed the decision on Wednesday, calling it an “exceptional expense.”

so that kkk guy is a genius, getting lazy NATO countries to finally pay their fair share

Method in Madness?

we’ve played strategy games before and atypical behaviour is all well and good and can get an early advantage up to the point when the victims realise they can just team up with someone predictable and leave yous unable to leverage the strength of consistency but we suppose we haven’t played 50000 dimensional snakes and ladders so we leave it to the experts