Merz rules out minority government or new elections as German coalition marks first anniversary amid tensions

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) on Tuesday ruled out forming a minority government or calling new elections, speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of his coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). "A minority government is not an option for me. And I will not enter into one. And I will not trigger one," Merz told the CDU Economic Council's Business Day on May 5. "And please, nobody dream of new elections. What would come of that?" Merz warned that new elections would leave Germany with weeks of limited capacity to act. "Does anyone seriously believe that a country in the middle of an election campaign, amid such an economic crisis, can make the necessary decisions that we need now?" He committed to continuing the coalition with the SPD until the end of the legislative term in three years. "We want and we must be successful with this coalition that we now have."

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) called discussions about a minority government "absolutely absurd" on May 6. "How are laws supposed to be created without majorities in parliaments?" he told broadcasters RTL and ntv. Dobrindt said he was convinced the coalition would last until the end of the legislative term. "There is no other choice. And one should not even attempt any other path." On May 5, Dobrindt announced a new law "for greater efficiency in deportations," aiming to "permanently enable a high number of returns." He also pointed to the European asylum reform GEAS, scheduled to take effect on June 12, 2026, expressing the "high expectation" that it would stabilize migration policy within the EU.

SPD chair and Labour Minister Bärbel Bas acknowledged "significant jolts" in the coalition in a Spiegel interview published May 6. "A failure of this coalition would only play into the hands of the AfD," Bas said. Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned against an early end to the coalition or a minority government during a SPD parliamentary group meeting on May 5. Scholz described the AfD as an "anti-pluralistic party" and urged maintaining the "firewall" against it, saying "there is no making a state" with the AfD.

Jens Spahn was re-elected as chair of the Union parliamentary group on May 5 with 86.5% of the vote. Of the 208 CDU and CSU lawmakers, 196 participated in the vote. Spahn thanked the lawmakers for the vote of confidence, saying the group should remain an anchor of stability.

Up to 14,000 federal police officers are deployed for border controls ordered by Dobrindt a year ago, according to a ministry response to a Green party inquiry. The response stated that with the intensification of temporarily reintroduced internal border controls since May 7-8, 2025, the police deployment rose to 13,000 to 14,000 officers.

CSU leader Markus Söder blamed the federal government in part for the planned US troop reduction of 5,000 soldiers in Germany. "The problems are partly created in Berlin," Söder said. "So they have to be solved there too." Green co-faction leader Katharina Dröge said the coalition is "like a ship without a helmsman" on its first anniversary. "Every major reform is dramatically announced by the chancellor, usually accompanied by an insult of the coalition partner, and then it drives somewhat into the wall," Dröge said.