Climate and GM set to be sticking points in next coalition

The Greens and the pro-business FDP are likely to join chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU in Germany’s next ruling coalition, leading to debate over how their different views will affect science and research.

Despite suffering losses in the general election on 24 September, Merkel’s CDU/CSU gained 32.9 per cent of the vote and will remain in power as the largest party in Germany. The second-largest party, the social-democratic SPD, has vowed to go into opposition after a disappointing campaign garnered only 20.5 per cent of the vote.

The CDU/CSU has ruled out the possibility of working with the third-largest party, the nationalist Alternative for Germany, which won 12.6 per cent of the vote, and the fifth-largest, the Left party, which won 9.2 per cent. That makes a ‘Jamaica coalition’ (named after the parties’ colours) among the CDU/CSU, the pro-business FDP, which gained 10.7 per cent of the vote, and the Greens, which gained 8.9 per cent, the most likely outcome.