1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,080
Speaker 1: It has been a momentous twenty for ours in German

2
00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,840
Speaker 1: politics following these net federal elections. The Conservative Alliance is

3
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,239
Speaker 1: once again the driving force, winning twenty eight point six

4
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,119
Speaker 1: percent of the vote, and Frederick Metz is said to

5
00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:14,520
Speaker 1: be the new chancellor. But the question is who are

6
00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,360
Speaker 1: they going to form a coalition with. Thorston Benner is

7
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,600
Speaker 1: the co founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute.

8
00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,479
Speaker 1: He's in Berlin and joins us Morning to you, Thorston.

9
00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,200
Speaker 2: Good morning, Andrew, Thanks for having me.

10
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,280
Speaker 1: How has it been you're in Germany. What are the

11
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:28,920
Speaker 1: people saying?

12
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,880
Speaker 2: Well, it depends on what the people's predilections are. Those

13
00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,520
Speaker 2: who love extreme right wing forces, they're over the moon

14
00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,800
Speaker 2: because every fifth German, more than twenty percent voarted for

15
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,199
Speaker 2: a far right party, the so called alternative for Germany.

16
00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,960
Speaker 2: There's the rest of the population, the eighty percent, they're

17
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,320
Speaker 2: probably less happy about this. I have lots of friends

18
00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 2: with a migrant background. We're thinking about maybe leaving Germany.

19
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,760
Speaker 2: If the AfD that established itself as the dominforce in

20
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,480
Speaker 2: German politics in this election in all of Germany's East

21
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,479
Speaker 2: will kind of be let into let into power. So

22
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 2: it's a sober. It's a it's a sober day for

23
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 2: German politics. We've had this experiment one hundred years ago

24
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,640
Speaker 2: didn't go so well, so most of the population still

25
00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:26,039
Speaker 2: is not in for a rerun.

26
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 1: Right Well, Frederick Meetz has to form the coalition and

27
00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:30,840
Speaker 1: he has actually already said he'd like to make a

28
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: coalition with the Social Democrats. Now the problem there is

29
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,240
Speaker 1: the Social Democrats had a terrible election, got their worst result,

30
00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,760
Speaker 1: and as you mentioned, the ad F, the Alternative for

31
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,000
Speaker 1: deutsch Land party, the right wing party, had a great election.

32
00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,559
Speaker 1: So is Matz going to go with the Social Democrats

33
00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:47,680
Speaker 1: or will.

34
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,160
Speaker 2: He that's the only that's the only option, basically, because

35
00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,880
Speaker 2: the Christian Democrats have ruled out solemnly forming any sort

36
00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 2: of coalition or any sort of cohabitation with the far

37
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,080
Speaker 2: right Alternative for Germany, So that only leaves him one option,

38
00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,960
Speaker 2: that is to go with the Social Democrats, which is

39
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,960
Speaker 2: one of the better outcomes because it's only a two

40
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,000
Speaker 2: party coalition that's necessary. So it was a nail bier

41
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:21,320
Speaker 2: in the early morning hours yesterday because because it was

42
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,440
Speaker 2: unclear whether some of the parties would make the five

43
00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 2: percent threshold in the end, two parties didn't make it,

44
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:32,119
Speaker 2: so that allows the SPDA and Fredrich Matz to form

45
00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 2: a coalition. The SBDA is not, you know, super happy

46
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,639
Speaker 2: about it. They're licking their wounds. But I think given

47
00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,120
Speaker 2: you know, you need to look at what the security

48
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,440
Speaker 2: situation Germany finds itself with the war at our doorstep,

49
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,680
Speaker 2: where Donald Trump is pulling the rug from under our feet.

50
00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 2: So we need a government that is able, that is

51
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,880
Speaker 2: able to act, and I think in the end the

52
00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,959
Speaker 2: Social Democrats will not. We'll kind of get over their

53
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,480
Speaker 2: grief and join a coalition, but it may not be

54
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:06,960
Speaker 2: an easy process getting there.

55
00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,160
Speaker 1: Ok, Thorston, I thank you for your time. Thorston ben

56
00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,240
Speaker 1: a co found a director of the Global Public Policy

57
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,400
Speaker 1: Institute in Berlin. And what will be interesting is once

58
00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,520
Speaker 1: they form their coalition where the policies go. Because Frederick

59
00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,760
Speaker 1: Metz over the course of the election said that he

60
00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:23,239
Speaker 1: was going to crack down a little bit more on immigration.

61
00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 1: And remember his party was Angela Merker's party, which had

62
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,200
Speaker 1: an open immigration policy. So we'll wait to see for more.

63
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,079
Speaker 2: From early edition with Ryan Bridge.

64
00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,600
Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks it be from five am weekdays,

65
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,920
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,