By Andrea Thomas
BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday was weighing
the prospect of new elections after the collapse of talks to form a
new government posed a threat to her leadership and raised doubts
about the political stability of the European Union's most powerful
country.
The chancellor dismissed suggestions she would step down and
said she would keep working toward building a stable government.
She rejected the prospect of a minority government and expressed
her willingness to lead her party's ticket in the event of a fresh
vote.
"If it comes to a new election, that's something you have to
accept," she told the ZDF public-sector broadcaster. "I'm not
afraid of it."
The lack of progress toward a government in Berlin since the
Sept. 24 vote means Germany could stay politically rudderless for
weeks to come, putting plans by French President Emmanuel Macron to
reform the eurozone back on hold.
Analysts said the collapse of coalition talks might have dented
Ms. Merkel's authority but noted that after 12 years as chancellor
she remained her Christian Democratic Union's sole credible
leader.
A flash Forsa poll of 1,789 respondents conducted on Monday
showed 85% of CDU voters thought Ms. Merkel should lead her party
into fresh elections, suggesting the collapse of the coalition
talks hadn't inflicted irreparable damage on her political
support.
But constitutional hurdles mean it could take weeks, even
months, before Germans go to the polls again. And Monday's Forsa
polls, like others in recent weeks, suggested a new ballot would
yield roughly the same result as the September vote -- a fractured
parliament without a clear majority -- likely leaving the country
in political gridlock.
Ms. Merkel's conservative alliance had been negotiating for
weeks with ideologically divergent parties after its failure to
secure a decisive victory in September's election left it needing
to form a coalition to govern. In the early hours of Monday, the
small pro-business Free Democratic Party broke off talks with her
conservative camp and the center-left Greens, saying the
negotiations had failed to bring the parties together.
Investors initially sold the euro and German stocks on the news,
although markets later recovered and German stocks ended the day
with gains.
Ms. Merkel and her party have signaled strong reservations about
Mr. Macron's plans to revamp the eurozone -- which include a call
for a common budget for countries that use the euro -- but the
chancellor has avoided rebuffing the French leader.
Ms. Merkel met Monday with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier --
the only official under German law with the authority to dissolve
parliament and call early elections -- to chart out her next
steps.
Mr. Steinmeier said he would consult with the main parties in
parliament to explore alternative coalitions before paving the way
for a new ballot.
"The parties have campaigned for responsibility in the Sept. 24
elections, a responsibility Germany's constitution says can't
simply be handed back to voters," Mr. Steinmeier said.
The Social Democrats, the previous coalition partner of Ms.
Merkel's CDU, ruled out a repeat of that so-called grand coalition
after the election, a position it reiterated on Monday.
But Andrea Nahles, the party's recently appointed parliamentary
leader, said the Social Democrats would make themselves available
for talks now, hinting that the party might consider alternative
coalitions involving Ms. Merkel's CDU.
Some in Ms. Merkel's camp have floated the idea of Ms. Merkel
stepping down as party chairman and chancellor in order to
facilitate a rapprochement with the Social Democrats, one person
familiar with the plan said on Monday.
Ms. Merkel dismissed the suggestion in a TV interview on Monday
as "extortion," saying "nothing good can come out of this."
She said she was also skeptical about another scenario that
would see her lead a minority government over a transition period.
This, she said, wouldn't give the country the stability voters were
yearning for.
Over the past four weeks, Ms. Merkel tried to bridge
longstanding divisions among the conservatives, the Greens and the
Free Democrats on issues such as migration, climate and the
environment. One of the key conflicts was between the Greens' push
to let family members from war-torn countries join those given
shelter in Germany and the insistence of Ms. Merkel's conservative
sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union, on capping the
influx.
The parties also struggled to agree on greenhouse-gas emission
targets ambitious enough to meet the goals set by the Paris accords
on fighting climate change without burdening Germany's
industry.
The Free Democrats, meanwhile, insisted on abolishing over the
next four years the "solidarity tax" levied since 1991 to help fund
development in the former East Germany.
Some analysts say election could benefit the anti-immigration
Alternative for Germany, which won its first seats in national
parliament in September. The party's leader called for Ms. Merkel
to step down.
"Ms. Merkel has failed and it's time for her to go as
chancellor," said Alexander Gauland, the co-leader of the party's
parliamentary group. "We believe there is a conservative majority
[in the lower house of parliament], but for this the Christian
Democrats would have to change very much. We hope that Ms. Merkel's
failure will prompt the Christian Democrats to rethink."
The Christian Social Union has pushed for a move rightward,
suggesting that her move to the center had left an opening for the
anti-immigrant party among conservative voters.
--Christian Grimm contributed to this article.
Write to Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 20, 2017 15:34 ET (20:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.