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GERMAN election winner Friedrich Merz sealed a deal today to form a new government.
Mr Merz said it would aim to spur economic growth, ramp up defence spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernisation.
The agreement, which follows weeks of negotiations, leaves the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) leader on track to become Germany’s new Chancellor in early May, replacing Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
CDU emerged as the strongest force from Germany’s election on February 23, with Mr Merz turning to the SPD to put together a coalition with a parliamentary majority.
Mr Merz said the deal is “a very strong and clear signal to the people of our country, and also a clear signal to our partners in the European Union: Germany is getting a government that is capable of acting and will act strongly.”
“Germany is back on track. Germany will fulfill the obligations” to boost defence.
Other measures in the agreement include boosting companies’ investment, cutting corporate tax, making working overtime more attractive and cutting electricity tax.
As opposition leader Mr Merz made reducing migration central to his election campaign.
Commenting today, he said the new government would suspend family reunions for many migrants, designate more “safe countries of origin,” launch a “return offensive” for rejected asylum-seekers and turn some people back at Germany’s borders in consultation with neighbours.
It will also tighten a law passed by the outgoing government that eased the rules for gaining citizenship, scrapping the possibility for well-integrated applicants to get a German passport after three rather than five years of residence.
Mr Merz said the coalition also plans to reduce the size of the federal administration by 8 per cent over its four-year term.
He insisted it doesn’t plan to do so by firing workers, however. “We’re not hiring an Elon Musk here who will do it like they dare in Washington,” he said.
“We will do it sensibly, with a sense of proportion.”
