The unbearable nonsense of confrontation

Parliamentary elections in Germany have resulted in the fourth consecutive victory of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has apparently lost considerable support and received the second worst result in elections since 1949. In spite of the loss, however, Merkel still maintains the leading role of her party in the German political system. Consequently, she is likely to lead the next German government for another four years.

The German election system is designed to allow a wide representation of the people's choices. The election result of Sept. 24 shows that people in Germany have opted for the emergence of a wider representation of political views to carry on. The CDU and Merkel will either try to form a minority government with the support of some parties in the Bundestag or seek for the formation of a new coalition government. Both options require compromise. 

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has immediately announced that it will not enter into a new grand coalition with Merkel's party. The CDU, on the other hand, will not seek any partnership with the hardliner extreme right political party, namely the "Alternative für Deutschland" (AfD). This leaves the other three parties, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the Greens and the Left party to look for compromises to support the CDU, either in the form of a minority government or through a coalition.

Merkel has two important priorities. First, to maintain the economic sanity that Germany has so skillfully developed in the last 15 years, and second, the unity of the European Union, which has been endangered by factors like Brexit but mainly by increasing anti-EU sentiments and  rising populism, nationalism and xenophobia. Merkel certainly will have to take...