The traffic-light coalition: a new start for Germany?

New government expected to be sworn in next week, signalling end of Angela Merkel’s 16-year rule

Members of new German coalition
Christian Lindner, Olaf Scholz, Annalene Baerbock and Robert Habeck
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The “traffic-light” coalition is a go-go, said Marcel Fürstenau in Deutsche Welle (Bonn). After two months of intense negotiations following September’s German federal elections, a groundbreaking deal has been struck to form the country’s next government.

The victorious centre-left SPD (red) will provide the next chancellor, Olaf Scholz. It will share power with the Greens (whose co-leader, Annalena Baerbock, is to be foreign minister) and the yellow-flagged, free-market FDP, whose leader Christian Lindner will serve as finance minister.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up