Germany’s acting Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet with the country’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, after talks to form a new government collapsed last night.
She will brief him on the state of the negotiations and discuss what happens next.
The collapse raises the possibility of a new election that could lead to a stalemate for the renewables sector and other industries over the coming months.
Merkel (pictured) could also try to govern with a minority government, with the Social Democrats having declined to continue with the existing coalition arrangements.
The latest talks broke down after the pro-business Free Democrats dropped out of the negotiations with Merkel’s conservative bloc and the left-leaning Greens.
An exit from coal-fired power generation and the country’s 2020 climate goal were among the most controversial points in the negotiations, it is understood.
Earlier this month, a leaked paper from Germany’s environment ministry raised fears that high emissions from coal-fired power plants and transport will mean the country misses its 2020 climate targets by a wider margin than previously anticipated.
During the talks, the Greens asked for a shutdown of 8–10GW of coal-fired power plants, while the Free Democrats and the Bavarian conservative CSU party only accepted 3–5GW.
The two parties argued that less coal would compromise the security of power supply.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
