Good morning from Berlin! The sun is shining today and so is Angela Merkel’s day.
Maybe.
Yesterday, CDU and SPD finally came to an agreement and reached a deal to form a coalition government, an option that SPD already said no to last September. Thanks to narcissistic FDP poster boy Christian Lindner of FDP, the Jamaica Coallition that was planned (CDU, FDP, and the Greens) was no longer possible and SPD had to step up to prevent Germany from being government-less.
Oh yeah, Germany has not had a proper government since September. And it still doesn’t.
SPD members need to vote on whether or not they are in with another Grand Coalition for 4 years before they can seal the deal. Sounds easy since the party leaders have spoken right? Uh uh. SPD has been split since Schulz agree to form coalition with CDU. Half of the party want nothing to do with CDU anymore because historically (and also happened last term i.e. SPD experienced it first hand) any party in coalition with CDU became inexistent or got significantly smaller. The other half of the party want to get this done and over with and prevent AfD from gaining more momentum. Anyway, the deadline is in less than a month, March 4.
Until then, Germany will have a few more weeks of political limbo. Not so good with how tumultuous the international political arena with (again) emotionally unstable cheeto across the pond, dissolved parliamentary in Italy in preparation for the general election, and of course the good ol’ Kim.
But hey, at least there is an acting government working at the moment. Unlike the US government shutdown. Until then, we sit, wait, and hope for more better days like today in Berlin.
Chasing Elections 