German 'kingmakers' meet on coalition, courted by would-be kings

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Greens and Free Democrats met on Friday for a second round of exploratory talks aimed at finding common ground on which to form a new coalition government with either the Social Democrats or conservatives, both of whom have courted them.

The Greens and Free Democrats, who are from opposite ends of the political spectrum and differ reut.rs/3uiuoJG on a range of issues, have moved centre stage after the Social Democrats (SPD) won Sunday’s election by a narrow margin that leaves them seeking partners.

Both the centre-left SPD and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc, which slumped to a record low result, would need the centre-right Free Democrats (FDP) and leftist Greens as partners to get a parliamentary majority for a ruling coalition.

The Greens favour a three-way tie-up with the FDP and SPD, while the FDP would prefer the two smaller parties to join forces with Merkel’s conservatives in a “Jamaica” coalition – so-called as their colours match the island nation’s flag.

“Jamaica has a chance,” Markus Blume, general secretary of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told reporters.

FDP deputy leader Johannes Vogel said policy content would be critical to how the coalition talks play out. After their meeting on Friday, the FDP and Greens both plan to speak separately with the larger SPD and CDU/CSU in the coming days.

“We are devoting ourselves to these substantive questions now, very consciously first with the Greens and then in the talks over the next few days, and then we will have to see,” Vogel told broadcaster ARD.

A survey by pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for broadcaster ZDF showed that 59% of respondents favoured a government alliance of SPD, Greens and FDP, with 76% saying they would like to see the Social Democrats’ Olaf Scholz as the next chancellor.

Asked in an interview with Spiegel magazine whether he would become chancellor after talks with the Greens and FDP, Scholz said: “Yes”, adding that the partners in such a tie-up must engage with each other in a “joint government with their ideas”.

Merkel, in power since 2005, plans to step down once a new government is formed.

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