THE ACTING GOVERNMENT MODE

The troubles began right after the parliamentary elections in September when the CDU/CSU alliance garnered the lowest number of votes in its history (since 1949). Hopes for further cooperation with the Social Democrats (SPD) were in vain, as their leader, Martin Schulz, immediately announced his departure to the opposition after the disappointing results of the vote.

The third runner by the number of mandates was the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AdG) but nobody is even thinking about cooperation due to AdG’s odious party leaders and the ideas they preach.

As a result, the alliance had to launch difficult yet futile negotiations with the two remaining parties - Free Democrats (FDP), former CDU/CSU partners in the coalition government of 2009-2013, and the environmental party Alliance90/Greens.

Almost two months later, Christian Lindner of FDP unexpectedly announced that his party left the negotiations, since there was no elementary trust among the participants. "It is better to not govern than to govern wrongly," said Lindner adding that "after weeks of negotiations, we have a list of innumerable controversies, open questions and conflicts of goals."

After this turn of events, Merkel had three options: to form a minority government without joining any coalition, or together with the Greens, whom she has developed good relations with during the negotiations. This could significantly hamper the adoption of decisions subject to parliamentary approval; require a tedious procedure of dissolving the Bundestag and declaring early elections. However, opinion polls show that power balance would not have changed much in this case. Therefore, the problems would have remained the same. And the last option would be the preservation of a "big" coalition with the Social Democrats. But how to deal with Schulz’s decision to go to the opposition?

There are several reasons for this decision. SPD had the same problem as CDU/CSU: voters' interest was the lowest in the entire post-war history. Party leaders attribute this to the fact that SPD has long been a junior partner in the coalition government with a bloc of center-right political parties (under Merkel in 2005-2009 and from 2013 to the present). Nevertheless, they believe that in opposition, the constructive criticism of the government will help the party to restore the trust of fellow citizens. In addition, the leading opposition party has serious tools of influence the executive branch: to appoint the leaders of a number of key parliamentary committees, including the budget committee, to initiate bills, and to make the first statement after the government during debates. If SPD agrees to join the coalition with CDU/CSU, all these advantages will go to the ultra-right AdG, which no one wants.

Had to agree

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier (former Social Democrat) decided to intervene in the case. According to German constitution, the president is vested with rather representative, ceremonial functions. In fact, a government led by the Chancellor rules the country. But in exceptional cases, such as the current government crisis, presidential word is decisive.

Steinmeier had individual talks with each of the party leaders (SPD, CSU, and CDU), and then set a general meeting for November 30. After the negotiations, it turned out that Steinmeier has convinced Martin Schultz to try to form a coalition government with Merkel’s bloc again.

However, the SPD leader could not provide firm guarantees, as his party had to have a congress a week after the meeting with the president. No one could foresee the events after the congress. After all, Schulz has failed to meet the expectations of his fellows who elected him earlier in March in the hope that he could win the parliamentary elections in September.

However, nothing extraordinary happened. The congress held on December 7-9 re-elected Martin Schultz as chairman of the party. But party members had serious debates on the negotiations. Opponents insisted that the political platform of the parties was very different and the cooperation with CDU/CSU significantly strengthened the position of SPD’s right wing. Representatives of the youth wing of the party even joked that they already have a mother hinting at the nickname of the chancellor, Mom Merkel.

Nevertheless, the congress participants agreed with Schultz that "we do not have to govern at any cost but we also cannot refuse to govern at any cost!" The congress has issued a mandate for negotiations provided that the results of talks may not necessarily be positive.

Initially, SPD will have consultations with Merkel on the terms of cooperation. If successful, the extraordinary congress of the party scheduled for January 2018 will decide to hold negotiations on coalition government.

So, if everything goes well, Merkel will have an opportunity to form a new government not earlier than next spring. This does not mean that the whole country will remain without an executive body since September. Currently, the government is run by a number of acting members in coalition with the same SPD. The problem is that the chancellor has no right to reshuffle the government or to appoint new members until a new cabinet is formed. Therefore, if any acting official leaves the government, his duties are transferred to other ministers. For instance, the acting Minister of Agriculture, CSU member Christian Schmidt, has been temporarily been vested with the powers of the minister of transport. Not because he is a great manager but because his other colleagues are already heavily overloaded.

Incidentally, Schmidt’s extravagant behavior has become proverbial. A couple of years ago, in response to the Russian embargo on German apples, he demonstratively ate an apple at a press conference quoting yet slightly paraphrasing a famous saying: An apple a day keeps Putin away. He is also known for his effort to put a ban on vegetarian food names, which contain meat-substitute products.

However, all this is nothing compared to the scandal caused by his order to the German delegation at the European Commission: to vote for the prolongation of the use of herbicide glyphosate, which probably contains a large dose of carcinogenic substances. In fact, his colleague, Minister for Environment Barbara Hendricks is against the use of this chemical.

In such cases, it is necessary to refrain from voting. But it turned out that one minister ignored the opinion of the other. The whole complexity of the situation is that Hendricks was a member of SPD and the incident occurred during difficult negotiations with her party boss on the continuation of cooperation. Some SPD members tried to present this as a vivid example of the gross disregard of SPD's opinion by Merkel.

Apparently, the scandal has pretty spoiled the mood of the acting chancellor but she could not demonstratively fire the negligent minister. Christian Schmidt got off with a severe reprimand.

In addition, Merkel's relationship with her partner in the bloc, Christian-Social Union Party (CSU), has not been quite smooth recently. They have disagreements on chancellor’s migration policy. Just after the previous incident, her long-time partner, CSU leader Horst Seehofer, who is losing support in the party, decided to resign as prime minister of Bavaria in the first quarter of 2018. His opponents insist on resigning as the head of the party as well. He is also blamed for poor results in the September elections.

Yet, as German journalists say, despite a political crisis in Germany, Merkel’s era is not over. Her personal rating (54%) is much higher than the party rating. 61% of voters support the intention to resume negotiations with SPD. The German alliance of trade unions (DGB) also supports the establishment of coalition government with SPD. It is still believed that Mom Merkel will, as always, find a way out. "One of our brands is the stability of Made in Germany," said the head of the Merkel administration Peter Altmayer.

In anticipation of changes

In the meantime, while Germany is going through complex political processes that have made Merkel miss the EU summit in Gothenburg, everybody is frozen in anticipation.

According to Handelsblatt, "The German economy may be strong enough to continue operating without the German government but Europe and the world cannot afford this kind of failure in the heart of the continent".