Angela Merkel’s Tortuous Path Toward a German Coalition<br />The four parties in the talks — her conservative Christian Democrats; their Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union; the pro-business Free Democrats<br />and the environmentalist Greens — span the political spectrum.<br />And — no small matter — a new vote would also further unsettle Germany’s partners in the European Union, who are looking to Berlin for leadership after Britain’s decision to leave it<br />and in the face of growing divisions with the United States under the Trump administration.<br />Since her party won just 30.2 percent of the vote in the Sept. 24 election, the chancellor has found herself struggling to bridge a<br />yawning gap between prospective coalition partners, rendering a normally painstaking process even more protracted and difficult.<br />And then we will see whether this house can be built." The drawn-out talks have inspired creative minds on<br />social media, with Germans competing to come up with a name for the negotiations based on popular films.<br />This week the chancellor set a deadline of next Thursday for the parties to decide whether<br />they can make a government work — and these are just the preliminary talks.<br />Although recent polls show German sentiment largely unchanged since the election, a<br />fresh round of voting would surely spell the end of Ms. Merkel’s 12-year tenure.
