'Parties unlikely to draw energy policy red lines in coalition talks'

"German voters head to the polls on 24 September to decide the make-up of the federal parliament. The next step, however – forming a government – could take weeks, if not months. Germany’s party landscape has become more fragmented, which means that the traditional two-party alliances might not reach the necessary parliamentary majority anymore. CLEW spoke to Senior Research Fellow at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) Christian Stecker about possible government coalitions and the policy differences that could complicate negotiations.

Stecker and his colleagues at the MZES compared the parties’ policy positions based on the 38 questions posed by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) to develop its renowned Wahl-O-Mat – an online application aimed at showing voters which parties align best with their personal views. The questions on energy and climate topics included lignite use, diesel taxes and renewable energy.
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