More than three months after its election, Germany is still without a new government.

The five-day talks will include Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), her allies the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Many see this as her last chance to form a stable coalition.

The centre-left SPD has governed jointly with the chancellor’s centre-right party for eight of the last 12 years. But a historically poor poll result in September saw SPD leader Martin Schulz vow to take the Social Democrats into opposition.

Pressure has mounted on the SPD since November, when Mrs Merkel failed to cobble together a coalition with the liberal FDP and the Greens.

The chancellor must now convince SPD leaders that they have enough common goals to start formal coalition negotiations by March or April.

European Union allies, such as France, see Germany as a pillar of stability in the bloc and will be hoping she succeeds.

What are the sticking points?

Immigration, Europe, tax, and healthcare could all become points of contention.

Within the SPD, there are fears that reforming the grand coalition would cost the party yet more support. The party’s poll ratings are down and some centre-left critics argue the SPD has given up its core principles to cling to power with Mrs Merkel.

The chancellor faces similar censure from conservatives, who say she has abandoned traditional values and driven voters towards the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now represented in the federal parliament for the first time.

Will the talks succeed?

Top leaders from the three potential allies met on 3 January to discuss preliminary issues, and have sounded an optimistic note since then.

“Confidence has grown, and we go into the talks with optimism,” a joint declaration said.

SPD Chairman Mr Schulz spoke of a “very focused, meaningful debate”.

Horst Seehofer of the CSU said he felt the parties would probably agree to govern together, saying: “I think we’ll manage it.”

The parties have agreed to a media blackout during the talks, which will finish on 11 January.

If they prove successful – and the SPD’s members vote to proceed – full-blown coalition talks will follow.

What happens if they fail?

If talks fail, Mrs Merkel could form a less stable minority government with the Greens, with SPD support.

However, she has previously said she would prefer a fresh election to that eventuality.

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Source: BBC

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FDP leader Christian Lindner said there was no “basis of trust” with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the Greens.

What happens next is unclear, but Mrs Merkel is due to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has the power to call snap elections.

Her bloc won September’s poll, but many voters deserted the mainstream parties.

After winning its first parliamentary seats, the far-right nationalist AfD (Alternative for Germany) vowed to fight “an invasion of foreigners” into the country.

Mrs Merkel said she regretted the collapse of the talks, adding she would meet the German president later on Monday to formally tell him negotiations had failed.

“It is a day of deep reflection on how to go forward in Germany,” she said. “As chancellor, I will do everything to ensure that this country is well managed in the difficult weeks to come.”

Aside from early elections, Mrs Merkel could also form a minority government with the Greens, who are yet to comment.

German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called the development the worst crisis of Mrs Merkel’s 12 years in office.

“Today there was no progress but rather there were setbacks because targeted compromises were questioned,” Mr Lindner said.

“It is better not to rule than to rule falsely. Goodbye!” he added.

The parties involved in the talks are reported to be deeply divided over tax, asylum and environmental policies.

The most bitter arguments have been over whether Syrian refugees should be allowed to bring family members to join them in Germany, the BBC’s Jenny Hill reports.

Mrs Merkel’s conservatives, mindful of the electoral success of the AfD, are cautious and want to extend a moratorium on so-called family reunions, our correspondent adds.

The second-largest party in parliament, the Social Democrats, have ruled out returning to a coalition government with Mrs Merkel.

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Source: BBC

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Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance has won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany’s parliament, according to the ARD poll.

Its coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, has gained 20%.

Meanwhile, the AfD, a right-wing nationalist, anti-Islam party, was on track to win 13.5%, emerging as Germany’s third-strongest party.

Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel said she hoped for a “better result” and talked about “extraordinary challenges”.

She added that she would listen to the “concerns and anxieties” of AfD voters in other to regain them.

The numbers mean that the SPD, led by Martin Schulz, has fallen to a new post-World War Two low.

Mr Schulz said the result was the end of the “grand coalition” with Mrs Merkel’s alliance.

“It’s a difficult and bitter day for social democrats in Germany. We haven’t reached our objective,” he told supporters.

AfD’s performance, better than what opinion polls had forecast, means that the right-wing party will have a seat at the Bundestag for the first time.

The party’s leader, Frauke Petry, said on Twitter (in German) that Germany has experienced an incomparable “political earthquake”.

The exit poll put the Liberal FDP with 10.5%; the Greens with 9.5% and the Die Linke (The Left) with 9%.

Mrs Merkel will now have to search for new coalition partners – a process that could take months.

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Source: BBC

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US intelligence agencies under Mr Obama reportedly monitored Mrs Merkel’s phone, sparking an angry response.

But both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders have said they do not believe Mr Trump was wiretapped.

Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel have discussed key issues including Nato and trade.

Her visit had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed due to a snowstorm.

Mr Trump made his wire-tapping jibe in a joint press conference with Mrs Merkel. She gave a quizzical look.

He was also asked about a comment by White House press secretary Sean Spicer that the UK’s GCHQ spy agency had carried out wiretapping on Mr Trump during the US election campaign.

Mr Trump said Mr Spicer had been quoting a comment on Fox TV. The president said he had not offered an opinion on it, adding: “You shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.”

Fox later read out a statement on air, saying: “Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop.”

GCHQ rejected the allegations against it as “nonsense” and Downing Street says it has been assured the US will not repeat the claims.

The US president was also asked if he regretted any of his regular tweets. He said “very seldom”, adding that it was a way to “get round the media when it doesn’t tell the truth”.

The body language was at times awkward. In an earlier photo opportunity in the White House, Mrs Merkel asked him quietly: “Do you want a handshake?” He looked forwards with his hands clasped and did not reply.

Nato and trade were key points of discussion for the two leaders.

Mr Trump reiterated his strong support for the alliance, but also “the need for our Nato allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defence”.

Germany is among many Nato members that do not meet the benchmark 2% of GDP to be spent on defence.

Mrs Merkel said Germany was committed to increasing its defence spending.

On trade, Mr Trump bristled at a suggestion that he believed in “isolationist” policies. He told the reporter asking the question: “I don’t know what newspaper you’re reading, but I guess that would be an example of fake news.”

He added: “I believe a policy of trade should be a fair trade. And the United States has been treated very, very unfairly by many countries over the years and that’s going to stop.”

Mrs Merkel, who was travelling with top executives from German companies Siemens, Schaeffler and BMW, said she hoped the US and the EU could resume talks on removing barriers to bilateral trade.

The two leaders certainly have hugely contrasting ideas and leadership styles.

In January, Mr Trump said the German chancellor had made “a catastrophic mistake” by allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants into Germany.

For her part Mrs Merkel has criticised President Trump’s controversial travel ban that targets the citizens of several mainly Muslim countries.

Immigration was clearly one of the issues on which the leaders had, as Mrs Merkel put it, “an exchange of views”.

He said immigration was “a privilege not a right” and that “safety of our citizens must come first”, whereas she said: “Refugees have to be given the opportunity to shape their own lives.”

Their first meeting came as she prepares for an election battle later in the year, seeking a fourth term as chancellor.

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Source: BBC

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