L’Europa deve essere forte a combattere contro Trump – ma la Germania è autodistruttiva

For all the careful choreography of his confirmation as Germany’s new chancellor, Christian-democrat leader Friedrich Merz is still waiting to take up his job after MPs humiliatingly failed to confirm him today.

Everything had been set until now. After his conservative CDU/CSU political union [won the elections last February](https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finews.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fgermanys-likely-chancellor-merz-faces-huge-challenges-including-angry-electorate-3550347%3Fico%3Dmost_popular%26srsltid%3DAfmBOorUCYH2-8XEZ0NLUUFq11_TpHrkAkshLh7yb9Xd4nhlGPF0ct7h&data=05%7C02%7CIsabella.Bengoechea%40theipaper.com%7C5e8e771b63604bcac07808dd8c821c4a%7C0f3a4c644dc54a768d4152d85ca158a5%7C0%7C0%7C638821212626649737%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=47Tau%2BwKNaKmk%2FRLmo5g8puy3HuYnieCT19Jjidt7sI%3D&reserved=0), Merz hammered out a coalition deal with the centre-left SPD, including constitution-tweaking measures to remove the debt brake so Germany could [splurge on defence](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/germany-senses-europe-defence-chance-britain-3554569?srsltid=AfmBOoqSqRgziW4Kb2egJkHQf-YRVApXnzhLC2OObmqZkN-R_Up5RbtC&ico=in-line_link) and infrastructure investment. SPD members backed the deal last week, their leaders formally signed the deal yesterday with the CDU/CSU, and last night, as part of a quirky German transition tradition, a military band performed a jaunty concert for the outgoing chancellor, the SPD’s [Olaf Scholz](https://inews.co.uk/topic/olaf-scholz?srsltid=AfmBOoo2CCJybbFaT6oI2qQoK6YIQWzmlIvb5GXaUFPJ0WIyoJ6QzAtW&ico=in-line_link). 

Today’s vote in the German parliament, the Bundestag, was supposed to be a mere formality: the coalition has 328 representatives, and Merz needed just 316 votes to be confirmed by the 630-member chamber. But he was backed by just 310, a six-vote shortfall. This is unprecedented in Germany’s history as a federal republic.

The defeat was not, as initially thought, due to absentee MPs, which would be embarrassing enough. Rather, it was because members in Merz’s own coalition voted against him.

This makes it harder to predict whether Merz, who has been tilting at the chancellery for more than two decades, can finally get over the line. A second vote could be scheduled for this week, but it would still require persuasion and possible compromises to win over the recalcitrant MPs.

So why did Merz fail to win the vote?