German agents are expected to vote on Tuesday about the possible appointment of conservative leader Friedrich Merz as the tenth foreign minister since World War II.
Merz aims to direct the most populous Member State of the European Union with 27 countries after the collapse of the administration of the outgoing Olaf Scholz Chancellor last year.
The country has the largest economy on the continent and plays an important role in diplomacy. Merz’s responsibilities will include the war in Ukraine and the management of any consequence of the commercial policies of US President Donald Trump.
The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will also have the task of facing internal challenges, such as economic stagnation.
If Merz cannot obtain the majority, Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, will have a period of 14 days to choose an alternative candidate that can obtain the absolute majority.
If this option is also not successful, the Constitution allows the president to appoint the candidate with the largest number of votes such as Chancellor or dissolve Bundestag and trigger a new round of federal elections.
Merz must obtain the support of a minimum of 316 votes of the 630 deputies of Parliament. This vote is scheduled for the eve of the 80th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Germany in World War II.
The secret scrutiny will take place in the renovated Reichstag, where traces of Soviet soldiers were preserved in several places of the structure.
If Merz is chosen, he will have to face the challenge of dealing with the emergence of the extreme right party and alternative anti -immigration to Germany, commonly designated by AFD.
The main German political parties have refused to collaborate with this party, invoking the so -called “barrier” that have remained against cooperation with extremist parties since the end of World War II.
AFD increase
Last week, the German Internal Information Agency announced that it appointed AfD, which was second in the February federal elections, as a “extreme right group”Submit it to aggregate and more extensive surveillance.
The Federal Department for the Protection of the Constitution characterized the party as a danger to the country’s democratic framework, stating that “not respecting human dignity”, particularly through what he called “continuous agitation” against migrants and refugees.
The decision was criticized by the United States Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the weekend. In response to Rubio’s appeal to cancel the decision, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the comments, insisting that the process is democratic.
The action of the internal information service does not constitute a prohibition of the party, since such prohibition can only be decreed through an application of any of the Chambers of Parliament or the Federal Government through the Federal Constitutional Court.
Merz has not yet publicly commented on the decision of information services.
ADVERTISINGMerz’s coalition
The newly formed coalition is directed by the CDU on the right of the center of Merz, along with its Bavarian counterpart, the social-Christian union (CSU). It is supported by the social democrats of the left center (SPD), directed by Lars Klingbeil.
The coalition has a modest majority, which controls 328 of the 630 Bundestag seats, and aims to stimulate economic growth, increase defense expenses, adopt a more rigorous position in immigration and proceed to a long -term modernization.
The union and social democrats have already governed Germany together in the 1960s and later in three of the four terms of former Foreign Minister Angela Merkel, who led the country from 2005 to 2021.
