Germany’s general elections saw the opposition CDU/CSU emerge as the largest party with Friedrich Merz tipped to be next Chancellor. The latter has taken a strong stance on supporting Ukraine and called for Europe

Election winner Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU, its Bavarian sister party CSU, and the Social Democrats (SPD) have taken a major step toward forming a coalition government, the heads of the parties said.

By Satyaki Chakraborty The polarization in German politics widened after national elections on Sunday, February 23 in which the conservative CDU/CSU with 28.5 per cent votes topped among the political parties followed by the far right AFD at 20.

Germany needs a new government fast. The center-right and center-left are set to hammer out an agreement by Easter, but there are several sticking points.

An alliance between Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the center-left SPD is the only viable path to form a new government for Germany.

Almost two weeks after the Bundestag elections, the leaders of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD have reached an agreement on issues ranging from immigration, to taxes to citzenship and now want to start coalition talks.

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has promised to "massively expand border controls" once the country's next coalition government is in place.

German parties negotiating the country's next government following the February 23 election took the first step on Sunday by concluding their exploratory discussions and agreeing to move forward with coalition talks.

A conservative alliance made up of the CDU and CSU is set to lead Germany again, but the new coalition government will have to confront pressing challenges.

Germany's economy is in desperate need of foreign labor, but a political environment hostile to all kinds of immigrants makes it seem unlikely they'll get it.

Germany's business lobbies on Wednesday praised plans to relax fiscal rules for defence spending and introduce a 500 billion-euro ($535 billion) infrastructure fund but said regulatory reforms remain essential for driving economic growth.

Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU secured 28.52% of the vote while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured 20.8% of the vote.