It’s Done: The 2021 Coalition Agreement and the Prospects of the Next German Government

In this AGI webinar, Heather Conley, Isabelle Hertner, & Sarah Schmid discuss the dynamics within the traffic light coalition, the makeup of the new cabinet, and what the coalition agreement tells us about Germany’s future foreign and security policy.

After two months of intensive discussions, the SPD, Greens, and FDP negotiated an incredibly detailed coalition agreement. This 177-page document lays out a legislative agenda for the next four years and outlines which parties will control the various ministries. Everyone got something of importance–the Social Democrats will control social policy portfolios and the chancellery; the Liberals will get the powerful Finance Ministry as well as justice and transportation; the Greens claimed almost all climate-related portfolios and the Foreign Office. The document has the potential to put Germany on a much more progressive path, but will the parties be able to execute this vision? What tensions will likely mark this ideologically disparate three-party coalition? How will policy and personnel changes affect domestic politics, Europe, and foreign relations?

Speakers:
Heather Conley, Senior Vice President for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic; and Director, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and in-coming President, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Isabelle Hertner, Senior Lecturer in Politics of Britain in Europe and Director, Centre for German Transnational Relations, King’s College London
Sarah Schmid, Head of Division for European Integration, Constitutional Affairs and Social Participation, Academy of Politics and Current Affairs, Hanns Seidel Foundation

Moderator:
Eric Langenbacher, Director of the Society, Culture and Politics Program, American-German Institute

This webinar is supported by the AGI Harry & Helen Gray Culture and Politics Program and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presented in partnership with The Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University, Birmingham, UK; the International Association for the Study of German Politics; and the BMW Center for German and European Studies, Georgetown University.