Merkel’s conservatives suffered their worst election results in decades, and just last weekend, her Jamaica coalition talks collapsed. The black-green-yellow talks were aimed at keeping the AfD from being the official opposition party in the Bundestag.
Andreas Rinke, a journalist with the news agency Reuters who covers Berlin, says: “For Merkel, a failure is never equivalent to an ultimate defeat.”
About her failure to set up a coalition, Merkel instead expressed pleasure at the “newly developed flexibility in the party spectrum”. Her new favourite word has become Sondierungsgespräche, or exploratory talks.
In interviews this week, she vowed to continue denying her predicament. “Frankly, I’m not afraid of anything,” she said.
Bloomberg reported that President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will meet with Schulz who has suddenly changed his mind about backing Merkel for a fourth term in a minority government. He is also set to talk to the Left Party who won 69 seats, according to Spiegel.
Karl Lauterbach, Deputy Leader in Parliament for the Social Democrats, has also confirmed that he believes his party should do what it can to form a “grand coalition” of governing forces.
The development comes after confirmation that German President Steinmeier was preparing to met with the anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AFD).
Germany’s new third party went from 0 to 94 seats in the last election and the establishment fear the AFD could do even better if another election is called.
The failure of Merkel to strike a deal with other parties to set up a coalition, has sent establishment parties scrambling to find a solution before the country is forced to go the polls again.