German legislators are expected to vote on Tuesday concerning the potential appointment of the Conservative chief Friedrich Merz as the 10th Chancellor of the Nation since the Second World War.
Merz aims to direct the most populated member of the European Union of 27 countries following the collapse of the administration of the outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year.
The nation has the greatest economy on the continent and plays an important role in diplomacy. Merz’s responsibilities will understand the war in Ukraine and manage the repercussions of the US President Donald Trump's trade policies.
The head of the Democratic Christian Union (CDU) will also be responsible for meeting the interior challenges, such as economic stagnation.
If Merz does not guarantee the majority, the Bundestag – The lower room of the Parliament – will have a period of 14 days to elect another candidate who can reach an absolute majority.
If this option is also unsuccessful, the Constitution allows the president to appoint the candidate with the greatest number of votes as a chancellor, dissolve the Bundestag and trigger a new series of federal elections.
Merz must obtain the support of a minimum of 316 votes from the room of 630 seats. This vote should take place on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Germany during the Second World War (Second World War).
The secret ballots will be carried out in the renovated Reichstag, where the remains of graffiti of Soviet soldiers have been kept in various places throughout the structure.
If Merz is elected, he will face the challenge of facing the rise of the extreme right anti-immigrant alternative for the German party, commonly known as AFD.
Traditional political parties in Germany refused to collaborate with her, referring to the so-called “firewall” that they have maintained against cooperation with extremist parties since the end of the Second World War.
AFD ascent
Last week, the German National Intelligence Agency announced that it had appointed AFD, which obtained second place in the February federal elections, as a “extremist on the right” group, thus subjecting it to increased and more extensive surveillance.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution qualified the party as a danger to the democratic framework of the nation, affirming that it “does not take into account human dignity”, in particular through what it called “continuous agitation” against migrants and refugees.
The decision was criticized by US vice-president JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio this weekend. In response to Rubio's call for the decision to be reversed, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the comments insisting that the process is democratic.
The measures taken by the national intelligence service do not constitute a ban on the party, because such a prohibition can only be promulgated by the request of the room of the Parliament or the federal government via the Federal Constitutional Court.
Merz has not yet publicly discussed the decision of the intelligence service.
ADVERTISEMENTMerz Coalition
The newly formed coalition is directed by the CDU central to the right of Merz with its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union (CSU). It is supported by the Social Democrats of Center-Gauche (SPD), led by Lars Klingbeil.
The coalition has a modest majority, controlling 328 of the 630 seats in the Bundestag and seeks to stimulate economic growth, to stimulate defense spending, to adopt a stricter position on immigration and to approach long -standing modernization.
The Union and the Social Democrats have already ruled Germany before in the 1960s, then in three of the four terms of the former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who led the country from 2005 to 2021.
Additional sources • AP
