Close vote before swear-in appears to underline scale of task at home and abroad for new government

Angela Merkel has returned to the German parliament’s governing benches to get to work on an in-tray overflowing with domestic and geopolitical problems after six months of fraught coalition building following September’s federal elections.

Having brought to an end the longest power hiatus in Germany’s postwar history, Merkel has to work with a diminished majority in her fourth term as chancellor to find solutions to immediate challenges, such as the threats from import tariffs from an unpredictable US president and calls for structural reforms to the eurozone’s financial system from France’s president, Emanuel Macron.

In addition, Merkel has to find long-term answers to the rise of the nationalist right, and a debate about growing social inequality in Germany’s booming economy.

Merkel was sworn into office on Wednesday afternoon after receiving 364 out of 709 votes in the first round of voting in parliament – nine more than required to gain an absolute majority, but also 35 fewer than if all the members of her next governing coalition had cast their ballot in her favour.

Q&A What are Merkel's fourth-term priorities? Show Hide A look at the main priorities set out in in the German coalition agreement, which will guide policy-making for the next four years. Europe Efforts to reform the EU will top the incoming government's agenda as the bloc grapples with rising nationalism, security concerns and an unpredictable US ally in Donald Trump. As well as agreeing to bolster EU foreign and defence policy, the parties say they are ready to raise Germany's contributions to the EU's budget once Britain leaves. They also support the creation of a European Monetary Fund, but offer only cautious backing for Emmanuel Macron's idea of a eurozone investment budget. Immigration Smarting from the backlash over Merkel's decision to open the country's doors to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in 2015, the government now aims to cap the annual intake of people seeking safe haven to about 200,000. At the EU level, Merkel says she continues to expect member states to take in their allocated share of refugees. The chancellor has also reiterated the need to tackle "the root causes of migration" with development aid for the countries of origin, while better securing the bloc's outer borders. Future-proofing economy Europe's powerhouse economy is booming, with workers enjoying high wages and record-low unemployment, but that has done little to assuage concerns about globalisation and automation in the workplace, as well as growing inequality. With its flush public coffers, Merkel's government aims to address these fears through investments in infrastructure, an offensive to improve the nation's creaking internet networks, pension reform and more funding for education and life-long learning. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/X00446

As the chancellor received standing ovations, handshakes and bouquets of flowers from delegates across the political spectrum, she was watched by her 89-year-old mother, Herlind Kasner, seated on the Bundestag’s gallery next to Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, and long-term adviser Beate Baumann.

“A clear vote and a smooth start. Now full steam ahead,” tweeted Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the new general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, which has formed another grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD).

Others were less impressed. Wolfgang Kubicki, the deputy leader of the FDP, said of the result of Wednesday’s vote: “That was closer than we expected. It shows that this grand coalition is actually going to be a small coalition.”

Merkel received supporting votes from 91% of delegates in her three-party coalition, compared with 92% in 2013 and 89% at the start of her first term in 2005.

Over the coming years, Merkel will have to find a way to win over unenthusiastic delegates not just among the Social Democrats, many of whom believe the party should have sought to reinvent itself in opposition, but also among the CDU, where there is disappointment over the loss of the finance ministry to the centre-left junior coalition partner.

One CDU politician described the result as a “bad omen” for the coming term. “This coalition has had a bad start, not just because of the unfortunate coalition deal, and won’t last for three and a half years”, said MP Alexander Mitsch.

After the vote, the chancellor travelled to Schloss Bellevue to receive a letter of appointment from the president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before heading back to the Bundestag in order to take the oath of office. The new cabinet meets for the first time this afternoon.

The pressure will be on the new government to immediately get down to business, after months of horse-trading and delayed decision-making. Merkel said on Monday her government’s focus would be on integrating refugees as well as increasing state powers to extradite people who had no right of residence. She has also stressed the necessity of securing Germany’s borders and developing policies to mitigate the causes of migration.

German elections 2017: full results Read more

The grand coalition was initially seen as an unlikely constellation after the election on 24 September, when Merkel’s conservative alliance, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens tried to create a so-called “Jamaica” coalition. But after those talks collapsed, both the conservatives and the Social Democrats came under pressure to revive the grand coalition, which has governed Germany for the majority of Merkel’s time in office.

The reformation of the grand coalition means the far-right Alternative für Deutschland becomes the large opposition party in the Bundestag – a non-official role that nonetheless equips the rightwing populists with a number of formal privileges, such as chairing influential parliamentary committees.

On Wednesday, the party already gave a taster of the tactics it may employ to disrupt Merkel and her government over the coming years. One lawmaker, Petr Bystron, was fined €1,000 for tweeting a picture of his secret ballot with the caption “Not my chancellor”, while another was expelled from the visitors’ gallery for holding up a “Merkel has to go” banner.

Even without a noisy nationalist right, the new Bundestag is likely to hear a more robust tone from its members. The coalition deal between the CDU and SPD commits the government to a number of new debating formats, including a triannual Westminster-style “chancellor’s question time”, in which the head of the government has to field questions from the opposition.

When Steinmeier swore in Merkel as chancellor, he appeared to nod to the fact that her fourth term in power could yet prove to be her most challenging: “Let me give you my best wishes on your difficult path,” the former foreign minister said.</s>Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was Wednesday elected by parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe`s biggest economy.

Lawmakers in Berlin`s glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel who was then to be formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office at 1100 GMT.

Merkel, wearing a white blazer, said "I accept the vote" and beamed happily as applause filled the Bundestag chamber, where her scientist husband Joachim Sauer and her 89-year-old mother Herlind Kasner were among the well-wishers.

For the veteran leader, the ceremony marked the end of a painful stretch of post-election paralysis, the deepest crisis of her 12-year career.

A right-wing populist rise in September elections weakened all mainstream parties and deprived Merkel of a majority, forcing her into another unhappy alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The grand coalition, mockingly dubbed a "GroKo" in German, didn`t start as a "love marriage", her designated vice chancellor and finance minister, the SPD`s Olaf Scholz, drily observed this week.

All coalition partners have nonetheless sought to allay fears that their marriage of convenience could break up mid-term, insisting they plan to jointly govern until 2021.

From 1600 GMT, Merkel sits down with her new cabinet, in which the SPD has wrested both the trophy posts of finance and foreign affairs to the dismay of a growing band of critics within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

On Friday Merkel will head to Paris to discuss EU reform plans with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a March 22-23 summit, after a six-month stretch in which Berlin was hamstrung on the European and world stage.

Macron warned in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that, without Germany on board, "part of my project would be doomed to failure".

"We are completely dependent on each other. I do not believe for one second that a European project without or against Germany could succeed."Merkel`s incoming coalition has broadly welcomed Macron`s bold reform plans, meant to reinvigorate the bloc and counter extremists and populists who have made major gains in Western democracies.

She has argued that the EU must increasingly look after its own interests in the era of US President Donald Trump, who has questioned long-standing transatlantic defence ties and threatened a trade war.

Berlin advocates closer EU cooperation on defence, immigration and plans for a European Monetary Fund. But it is lukewarm on the idea of a joint eurozone finance minister and rejects any pooling of debt.

Scholz, who takes over from CDU fiscal hawk Wolfgang Schaeuble, has made clear he will stick with Berlin`s cherished "black zero" policy of avoiding new public debt.

The rise of populist fringe parties is also the central domestic threat for Merkel`s new coalition, which will face the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the biggest opposition party.

The AfD scored almost 13 percent in the election, capitalising on public fears over a mass influx of more than one million refugees and migrants since 2015 and angrily demanding that "Merkel must go".The shock rise of the AfD has come at the expense of the CDU, its Bavarian CSU allies and especially the SPD, all of which suffered their worst results in decades in September.

While Merkel`s last GroKo had a crushing 80 percent parliamentary majority, the margin has shrunk to 56 percent.

To answer the new right-wing threat, designated interior minister Horst Seehofer has pledged a "zero tolerance" law and order drive and faster deportations of failed asylum-seekers.

His new interior super-ministry also covers "Heimat" or homeland affairs, a term much derided for evoking Alpine vistas, beer and bratwurst but intended to recapture claims to patriotism from the AfD.

Scholz has meanwhile promised to tackle another fear exploited by populists, of vanishing jobs in the age of globalisation and rapid technological change.

"When we look at the Trump election, Brexit and the success of right-wing populist parties in many European countries," Scholz said, "we see there is a clear need to find new answers to the challenges of the 21st century."</s>Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was on Wednesday narrowly confirmed by parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy.

Lawmakers in Berlin’s glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel, who was then formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office. The outcome of the secret ballot suggested 35 lawmakers of her new right-left coalition bloc voted against Merkel, giving her a thin nine-vote margin that opposition parties were quick to label a “rocky start” for a spent and joyless governing alliance.

Merkel, wearing a necklace in the national colours black-red-gold, nevertheless beamed with joy and relief as applause filled the Bundestag chamber, where her scientist husband Joachim Sauer and her 89-year-old mother Herlind Kasner were among the well-wishers.

For the veteran leader, the ceremony marked the end of a painful stretch of post-election paralysis, the deepest crisis of her 12-year career, reports AFP.

A right-wing populist rise in September elections weakened all mainstream parties and deprived Merkel of a majority, forcing her into another unhappy alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The grand coalition, mockingly dubbed a “GroKo” in German, didn’t start as a “love marriage”, her designated vice chancellor and finance minister, the SPD’s Olaf Scholz, drily observed this week. All coalition partners have nonetheless sought to allay fears that their marriage of convenience could break up mid-term, insisting they plan to jointly govern until 2021, reports AFP.

Merkel sits down with her new cabinet, in which the SPD has wrested both the trophy posts of finance and foreign affairs to the dismay of a growing band of critics within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

To quieten the dissent, Merkel has named a sometimes outspoken critic, Jens Spahn, 37, as her new health minister and recently tapped a potential successor, new CDU general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

“The chancellor was, from time to time, written off in the past six months,” Marianne Kneuer of Hildesheim University told Phoenix TV.

“Many in the party started thinking about the future after Angela Merkel… but at the same time Merkel has strengthened her position again.”</s>BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s parliament elects Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor.</s>Angela Merkel has been re-elected as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of #Germany by the German Bundestag https://t.co/45pEULfS0t</s>Germany’s parliament has elected Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor, putting an end to nearly six months of political drift in Europe’s biggest economy.

Germany’s parliament has elected Angela Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor, putting an end to nearly six months of political drift in Europe’s biggest economy.

The coalition of Ms Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party the Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats has 399 seats. Angela Merkel receives flowers after she was elected for a fourth term as Germany's chancellor (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) The same parties have governed for the past four years but putting together the new coalition has been hard work.

Wednesday’s parliamentary vote comes 171 days – nearly double the previous record – after September’s election, in which they all lost significant ground. The Social Democrats initially planned to go into opposition.

Ms Merkel will head a much-changed new cabinet, with the governing parties — which are traditional rivals — keen to send signals of renewal. There are new faces in the most important posts, the finance, foreign, economy and interior ministries. Ms Merkel was able to take office only after two-thirds of the Social Democrats’ members approved in a ballot the coalition deal clinched last month.

At least 35 coalition politicians did not support her on Wednesday, though that was in line with results at the beginning of her two previous “grand coalitions” of Germany’s biggest parties. She will have to hold together what is potentially her most fragile coalition yet in what is widely expected to be her last term, while also addressing challenges such as a potential Europe-US trade war and seeking agreement with France and others on the future of a fractious European Union.

Thorsten Faas, a political science professor at Berlin’s Free University, said the coalition is likely to last until 2021 as scheduled and noted that the governing parties have demonstrated that they can work together.

“A firm foundation, and I think this government has one, is important to be able to work in uncertain times,” Mr Faas told ZDF television. “So I think there is some reason for optimism.”</s>Angela Merkel has been sworn in as Chancellor of Germany after lawmakers voted to re-elect her as leader in a close vote Wednesday morning.

The vote in parliament ended almost six months of political turmoil after a federal election saw millions of voters desert the two mainstream parties — Merkel’s CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — turning instead to parties on the left and right.

In a secret ballot, 364 of the Bundestag’s 709 members voted in favor of Merkel — nine more than the 50% required. Thirty-five MPs from the parties governing under Merkel did not vote to re-elect her.

Merkel’s victory marks the final stepping stone on the path to Germany’s new government — a renewal of the so-called grand coalition (“GroKo”) between the Chancellor’s CDU/CSU alliance and the SPD.

The former leader of the SPD, Martin Schulz, had initially ruled out a new GroKo, pledging to take his party into opposition, but was forced to change his stance after coalition talks between the CDU, Green Party and liberal FDP collapsed in November, raising the possibility of new elections.

After weeks of negotiations, a coalition treaty was produced and later approved by SPD members who voted via postal ballot. But many SPD members and politicians remain unhappy with their party’s involvement in the new coalition.

Far right in opposition

The renewal of the grand coalition means the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now officially the lead opposition party in parliament.

The AfD was founded in 2013 and its virulently anti-immigration platform proved popular with voters in the September election.

The party surged into third place in the election with 12.6% of the vote, the first time in decades that a far-right, openly nationalist party had won seats in Germany’s federal parliament.

AfD politicians have campaigned strongly against Merkel and her policies. Following the election result in September, co-leader Alexander Gauland promised his party would provide staunch opposition to the new government, adding: “We will hunt them. We will hunt Mrs. Merkel or whomever. And we will take back our country and our people.”</s>German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was Wednesday elected by parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy.

 Lawmakers in Berlin’s glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel, who was then to be formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office at 1100 GMT.

 Merkel, wearing a white blazer, said, “I accept the vote” and beamed happily as applause filled the Bundestag chamber, where her scientist husband, Joachim Sauer, and her 89-year-old mother, Herlind Kasner, were among the well-wishers.

 For the veteran leader, the ceremony marked the end of a painful stretch of post-election paralysis, the deepest crisis of her 12-year career.

 A right-wing populist rise in September 2017 elections weakened all mainstream parties and deprived Merkel of a majority, forcing her into another unhappy alliance with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

 The grand coalition, mockingly dubbed a “GroKo” in German, didn’t start as a “love marriage,” her designated vice chancellor and finance minister, the SPD’s Olaf Scholz, dryly observed this week.

 All coalition partners have nonetheless sought to allay fears that their marriage of convenience could break up mid-term, insisting they plan to jointly govern until 2021.

 From 1600 GMT, Merkel sits down with her new cabinet, in which the SPD has wrested both the trophy posts of finance and foreign affairs to the dismay of a growing band of critics within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

 On Friday, Merkel will head to Paris to discuss EU reform plans with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a March 22-23 summit, after a six-month stretch in which Berlin was hamstrung on the European and world stage.

 Macron warned in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that, without Germany on board, “part of my project would be doomed to failure.”

 “We are completely dependent on each other. I do not believe for one second that a European project without or against Germany could succeed.” Merkel’s incoming coalition has broadly welcomed Macron’s bold reform plans, meant to reinvigorate the bloc and counter extremists and populists who have made major gains in Western democracies.

 She has argued that the EU must increasingly look after its own interests in the era of US President Donald Trump, who has questioned long-standing transatlantic defense ties and threatened a trade war.

 Berlin advocates closer EU cooperation on defense, immigration, and plans for a European Monetary Fund. But it is lukewarm on the idea of a joint eurozone finance minister and rejects any pooling of debt.—Agencies</s>BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was on Wednesday (Mar 14) narrowly confirmed by parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe's biggest economy.

Lawmakers in Berlin's glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel, who was then formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before taking the oath of office.

The outcome of the secret ballot suggested 35 lawmakers of her new right-left coalition bloc voted against Merkel, giving her a thin nine-vote margin that opposition parties were quick to label a "rocky start" for a spent and joyless governing alliance.

Merkel, wearing a necklace in the national colours black-red-gold, nevertheless beamed with joy and relief as applause filled the Bundestag chamber, where her scientist husband Joachim Sauer and her 89-year-old mother Herlind Kasner were among the well-wishers.

For the veteran leader, the ceremony marked the end of a painful stretch of post-election paralysis, the deepest crisis of her 12-year career.

A right-wing populist rise in September elections weakened all mainstream parties and deprived Merkel of a majority, forcing her into another unhappy alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The grand coalition, mockingly dubbed a "GroKo" in German, didn't start as a "love marriage", her designated vice chancellor and finance minister, the SPD's Olaf Scholz, drily observed this week.

All coalition partners have nonetheless sought to allay fears that their marriage of convenience could break up mid-term, insisting they plan to jointly govern until 2021.

From 1600 GMT, Merkel sits down with her new cabinet, in which the SPD has wrested both the trophy posts of finance and foreign affairs to the dismay of a growing band of critics within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

To quieten the dissent, Merkel has named a sometimes outspoken critic, Jens Spahn, 37, as her new health minister and recently tapped a potential successor, new CDU general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

"The chancellor was, from time to time, written off in the past six months," Marianne Kneuer of Hildesheim University told Phoenix TV.

"Many in the party started thinking about the future after Angela Merkel ... but at the same time Merkel has strengthened her position again."

On Friday Merkel will head to Paris to discuss EU reform plans with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a Mar 22-23 summit, after a lengthy stretch in which Berlin was hamstrung on the European and world stage.

Macron warned in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that, without Germany on board, "part of my project would be doomed to failure".

"We are completely dependent on each other. I do not believe for one second that a European project without or against Germany could succeed."

Merkel's incoming coalition has broadly welcomed Macron's bold reform plans, meant to reinvigorate the bloc and counter extremists and populists who have made major gains in Western democracies.

She has argued that the EU must increasingly look after its own interests in the era of US President Donald Trump, who has questioned long-standing transatlantic defence ties and threatened a trade war.

Berlin advocates closer EU cooperation on defence, immigration and plans for a European Monetary Fund. But it is lukewarm on the idea of a joint eurozone finance minister and rejects any pooling of debt.

The rise of populist fringe parties is also the central domestic threat for Merkel's new coalition, which faces the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the biggest opposition party.

The AfD scored almost 13 per cent in the election, capitalising on public fears over a mass influx of more than one million refugees and migrants since 2015 and angrily demanding that "Merkel must go".

The shock rise of the AfD has come at the expense of the CDU, its Bavarian CSU allies and especially the SPD, all of which suffered their worst results in decades in September.

While Merkel's last GroKo had a crushing 80 per cent parliamentary majority, the margin has shrunk to 56 per cent.

To answer the new right-wing threat, designated interior minister Horst Seehofer has pledged a "zero tolerance" law-and-order drive and faster deportations of failed asylum-seekers.

His new interior super-ministry also covers "Heimat" or homeland affairs, a term much derided for evoking Alpine vistas, beer and bratwurst but intended to recapture claims to patriotism from the AfD.

Scholz has meanwhile promised to tackle another fear exploited by populists, of vanishing jobs in the age of globalisation and rapid technological change.

"When we look at the Trump election, Brexit and the success of right-wing populist parties in many European countries," Scholz said, "we see there is a clear need to find new answers to the challenges of the 21st century."</s>Angela Merkel is starting her fourth term as German chancellor in stormy times as she heads a fragile coalition that took almost six months to put together.

Angela Merkel is starting her fourth term as German chancellor in stormy times as she heads a fragile coalition that took almost six months to put together.

Angela Merkel must hold together fragile coalition in fourth term as chancellor

Ms Merkel, chancellor since 2005 and the EU’s longest-serving leader, was sworn in on Wednesday at the head of a “grand coalition” of Germany’s biggest parties. That put an end to months of drift after September’s election, during which Germany’s voice in the world was weakened by the domestic political impasse.

She can now turn her attention fully to matters such as French President Emmanuel Macron’s months-old proposals for ambitious reforms of the EU and its currency union, and US President Donald Trump’s threats of trade tariffs against the EU and even taxes on German carmakers. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, right, and his predecessor Sigmar Gabriel at a handing-over of office ceremony at the foreign ministry in Berlin (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) At home, Ms Merkel will have to hold together potentially her most fragile governing coalition yet in what is widely expected to be her last term.

It contains the same parties as her last administration — her Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats — but putting the new administration together has been unprecedentedly difficult after all three lost significant support in September’s election. A parliamentary vote on Wednesday to re-elect Ms Merkel came 171 days after the election, nearly double the previous record.

The Social Democrats initially planned to go into opposition after crashing to their worst result since the Second World War, but German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier nudged them into a reluctant about-turn after Ms Merkel’s talks with two smaller parties collapsed in November. Ms Merkel was able to take office only after two-thirds of the Social Democrats’ members approved in a ballot the coalition deal clinched last month. With all the coalition parties keen to send signals of renewal, she leads a much-changed Cabinet.

“Finally we have a new government — a government of election losers, business as usual,” Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel said. Ms Merkel, 63, has long dismissed the notion that she should be regarded as the “leader of the free world” following the election of Mr Trump, who is unpopular in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

A strong advocate of multilateral solutions, she says that no one person or country can solve every problem. However, Mr Steinmeier underlined expectations that Germany should serve as an example as he formally appointed her new government.

“Western liberal democracies are exposed to challenges, external as well as internal,” he said, with authoritarian alternatives gaining in confidence. “The expectations of our friends and partners are huge, particularly in Europe,” Mr Steinmeier said. “Many hope we in Germany will show that liberal democracies are capable of acting and facing the future.” Ms Merkel’s first trip abroad of her fourth term will take her to Paris on Friday to meet Mr Macron.

Emmanuel Macron said his EU reform plans could not succeed without the support of Germany (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) In comments published on Wednesday by Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the French leader was quoted as saying that “if Germany doesn’t move, part of my project is condemned to failure”. He added: “I don’t think for a second that a European project can succeed without or against Germany.” Elsewhere in Europe, Italy has entered post-election political gridlock just as Germany’s ends.
Angela Merkel is elected and sworn in for a new term as Chancellor of Germany. Olaf Scholz and Heiko Maas assume the positions of Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs respectively.