BONN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany escaped political disaster Sunday, at least for now, and inched a step closer to forming a new government after the Social Democrats voted in favor of entering formal coalition talks with her conservative camp.
This latest episode in Germany’s agonizing saga of political uncertainty raised cautious hopes that a new administration might be sworn in by Easter.
But a major wild card remains: The Social Democrats’ grass roots — rebellious after sharing power with Merkel led to their worst election result in more than 80 years — must approve any final coalition deal. Sunday’s vote, backed by 56 percent of party delegates, was tight.
“The fight is not over!’’ warned the bright-red banner of one activist outside the party congress in the western city of Bonn.
Still, Sunday’s vote met with a collective sigh of relief in the corridors of power in Berlin and neighboring countries, which have been impatient for the Continent’s most influential country to turn its attention back to the world.
Merkel announced from Berlin that “the path is free for coalition talks.’’ Calling for “a responsible climate, despite all of the divisive issues,’’ she acknowledged that negotiations would not be easy. “There is a lot of work ahead of us,’’ she said.
Four months after Germany’s inconclusive parliamentary elections, President Emmanuel Macron of France needs Merkel’s support to help push through ambitious overhauls to protect the eurozone against further financial crises.
Britain wants the chancellor’s attention on talks over its negotiations to leave the European Union, known as Brexit. And across Europe, countries rely on German leadership on pressing issues like migration and defense.
With national elections in France and Germany out of the way, and Britain’s departure from the EU set for March 2019, this year had been billed as a window of opportunity for substantial progress in Europe, said Daniela Schwarzer, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. But every day spent in a German limbo narrows that space.
“The window is tight,’’ said Schwarzer, who predicted that a government would be formed by March at the earliest. “We need to make the most of the progress before the summer break.’’
Come fall, much of Europe’s energy will be absorbed by the final leg of the Brexit talks. And inside Germany, a hard-fought Bavarian election would mean Merkel’s conservative sister party, which has been losing votes to the euroskeptic Alternative for Germany, may be in no mood to make concessions on overhauls in Europe.
For Merkel, securing another coalition with the Social Democrats would provide an opportunity to shape her legacy on European issues and begin grooming a successor, which she has so far not done.
“It would be her fourth and last term, but her chance to go down in history as a European chancellor,’’ said Andrea Römmele, a professor of political science at the Hertie School of Governance.
Europe’s future has also been a central rallying cry of Martin Schulz, the Social Democrats’ embattled leader, in favor of another coalition, even though he ran against Merkel on a platform of “never’’ joining her in government again.
“We are deciding which path our country and Europe will go,’’ Schulz, who served as president of the European Parliament from 2012 until early 2017, told delegates in Bonn.
But some warned that another coalition straddling the center left and center right could be a short-term fix with a high long-term cost: It would elevate the far-right Alternative for Germany as the biggest opposition party in Parliament.
“It is suicidal,’’ said Hilde Mattheis, a lawmaker who voted against coalition talks Sunday. In her state, Baden-Württemberg, Alternative for Germany has overtaken the Social Democrats. “We need to be a bulwark against the far-right in opposition,’’ she said.
In the two years since Merkel opened Germany’s door to more than 1 million migrants, the country’s political landscape has changed drastically, and much of the chancellor’s ability to forge consensus has eroded.
In the September election, her party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, had its worst showing since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949. An earlier attempt to form a coalition government, with the free-market Free Democrats and the Greens, failed after four weeks of discussions late last year.
