Germany’s Merkel prefers new election to minority gov’t

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Monday that she was “very skeptical” about leading a minority government if no coalition could be formed to run Europe’s biggest economy, and thinks a new election would be a better solution.

Her comments come after the country’s president appealed to political leaders to rethink their positions and try again to form a new government, once coalition talks between Merkel’s conservatives and two parties collapsed. But there was little immediate indication that his call would be heeded, and a new election looks increasingly likely.

The conservative Merkel spent four weeks haggling with the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens on a new, untried governing coalition until the Free Democrats walked out Sunday night.

Her partners in the outgoing government, the center-left Social Democrats, said Monday they would not join a new Merkel administration, a stance the party has repeated time and again since it slumped to a disastrous defeat in Germany’s September 24 election. No other politically plausible combination of parties has a majority in parliament.

“We now face a situation that we haven’t had in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, so in nearly 70 years,” President Frank-Walter Steinmeier tells reporters after meeting Merkel. It is Steinmeier who will have to decide whether to pave the way for a minority government or a new election.

“This is the moment at which all parties should pause and reconsider their position,” he says. “I expect from everyone readiness to talk, in order to make the formation of a government possible in the foreseeable future.”

— AP