The Chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) have been unable to iron out disagreements with its would-be coalition partners over climate and migration policy.
Negotiations with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens ended abruptly last night – with FDP leader Christian Lindner saying he saw no hope of breaking the stalemate.
A senior figure in Germany’s Greens said Monday the country could be heading for a new general election “around Easter”, with millions forced to go back to the polls.
Jürgen Trittin, a Green MP and member of the party’s negotiating team, told Deutschlandfunk radio: “At the end of the day, we could expect a new election around Easter.”
Mrs Merkel’s hopes of avoiding a new election, and a possible leadership challenge, had rested on forming an awkward three-way alliance with between the CDU and its Bavarian allies the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Greens and the business-minded FDP.
But after four weeks of talks, the parties have been unable to wrap up negotiations – with sticking points remaining over climate change, where the Greens want emissions cuts the other parties fear could ruin the economy.
Mrs Merkel says she will now have to consult with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday.
While she could try to force through plans to lead under a minority government, she could also suggest forming “grand coalition” with the SPD – although leader Martin Schulz has repeatedly ruled this out.
If both these options fail, Germany will have no option but to return to the polls.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s parliamentary group co-leader Alice Weidel called on Mrs Merkel in a Facebook post to step down as chancellor “immediately.”
While Leif-Erik Holm, the deputy head of the AfD’s parliamentary group, declared the failure of the talks “a good day for Germany”.
He tweeted that a four-year coalition between conservatives, FDP and Greens would have been “a torture” and added that “maybe now we can even send Merkel into retirement.”
The CSU fears that it risks being toppled by the far-right in regional elections next year after 60 years in power if it fails to secure immigration red lines that the Greens vehemently oppose.
CSU leader Horst Seehofer said: “We’ll have a sense this evening of whether it’s going to work.”
Among its demands are a cap of 200,000 per year on the number of refugees Germany will take, and an end to the practice of allowing successful asylum seekers to bring their immediate families to join them.
However Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, warned against “fresh election panic”, suggesting in a newspaper interview that the brinkmanship was not out of the ordinary.
He said: “Before they get going there are always attempts by parties to drive prices up as high as possible.
“What we’ve seen in the past weeks isn’t so different from previous negotiations.”