Germany held snap federal elections on 23 February 2025. What will the new political constellation mean for European unity, the EU’s decarbonisation and competitiveness agenda, and the EU’s role in the world? Roderick Kefferpütz analysed the election results and their implications for Germany’s role in Europe with Dr. Jana Puglierin, Sven Giegold, Leonore Gewessler, Jeanette Süß and Jolanta Szymańska.

Germany voted and Europe held its breath. Despite the bleak economic performance and outlook of Germany, the promise of ‘economy-centred election campaigns’ never materialized. Yet the list of economic policy homework for the new government is long and urgent. The possibility to form a two-party government of the Christian conservative CDU/CSU and social democratic SPD now needs to be translated into political action – in both Germany and the EU.

The European Commission finally unveiled the Clean Industrial Deal, a competitiveness-driven approach to decarbonisation, aimed at securing the EU as an attractive location for manufacturing, including for energy intensive industries, and promoting clean tech and new circular business models. We asked MEP Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA) what to expect, and how to conciliate competitiveness with just transition.

The Greens emerge from the election relatively stable despite losses. Formation of the political will within and outside of parties must reorganise itself. Democratic parties must remain able to compromise among themselves in order to fulfil their responsibility for the political order in Germany and beyond.