Get to know the new Berlin government, it will have a big impact on us all

Irish people will take some time to learn the names of the principals from the three parties in this German “traffic light coalition” that brings together the red of the Social Democrat SPD, the yellow of the Liberal FDP and, of course, the Green Party. The new chancellor replacing the now universally recognised Angela Merkel will be Olaf Scholz of the SPD, a man with a pretty stunning reputation as the outgoing finance minister who played a central role in fixing the 15pc multinational company tax and breaking the taboo on EU borrowing for post-Covid 19 regeneration.

The co-leader of the Greens, Robert Habeck, whose party took almost 15pc of the vote and 118 of the parliament’s 735 seats, will become vice-chancellor and occupy a super- ministry in charge of the economy, energy and tackling climate change.

His fellow leader, Annalena Baerbock – the election standard bearer for the chancellor’s role – will become foreign affairs minister, the first woman to hold the post and the youngest incumbent at the age of 40.

The Green Party has reason to be pleased as it also gets charge of family issues and culture along with the right to choose the next German EU commissioner in autumn 2024. It leaves one wondering whether this issue was broached in the Irish coalition machinations that gave us a government that could well still be in place when that decision is taken.

The German Green Party held the foreign affairs portfolio via Joschka Fischer in a coalition headed by SPD leader Gerhard Schroeder from 1998 to 2005. The sky did not fall during those years, although the Greens did suffer for a time at the polls as the exiting junior coalition partner before recovering their footing.

The one appointment that will be most keenly watched in Dublin is that of finance minister, Christian Lindner, who heads the Liberal FDP. His party got 11.5pc of the vote and 92 of the 735 seats in the election on September 26, but he made getting charge of the national kitty the price of his party’s coalition participation. Traditionally, his party is pretty hard-core on prudent management and avoidance of debt, both nationally and at EU level. Germany is programmed to return to its constitutionally mandated debt ceiling of 0.35pc of GNP in 2023 after four years of exceeding it to fund Covid 19 measures. Given the history of rampant inflation and economic chaos in the 1920s and 1930s, this issue cuts pretty deeply with ordinary Germans.

Ireland is among the EU nations that would like to see more flexibility. But here the devil is definitely in the detail. The coalition deal contains agreement on the Berlin government being more easily able to borrow for investment, including special funds outside the budget rules, and a pledge to revisit technical calculations behind the rules on deficit and debt. Given that it took Ireland 140 days from election day on February 7 last year to the election of Taoiseach the following June 27, an interesting feature of the German coalition-making is that it kept to the negotiating timetable that was framed early in the process. In all, it took two days short of two full months to complete the complex deal announced last Wednesday.

Given the complexity of the issues involved, this was pretty impressive, and Irish politicians could have a more detailed look at how the deal was done for future reference. Of course, successfully completing negotiations is no guarantee of coalition durability.

There are many challenges ahead for this new three-party coalition, and they will test the mettle and political acumen of the men and women involved.

However, the success of this new Berlin government has as always big implications for every Irish citizen.