Former German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said his country would not sink into a political crisis if Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to form a coalition government with the Social Democrats failed.
“If the efforts succeed, it is good,” said Schaeuble, who stepped down as Finance Minister to become the Bundestag president after last year’s election. “If it does not work, it is also not a catastrophe.”
Delegates from the center-left Social Democrats vote on Sunday whether their leaders should go ahead with negotiations to form a coalition government with Merkel’s conservatives after they reached an initial deal last week.
In a rare blow to Merkel, Focus quoted a separate statement by Schaeuble saying Germany was still “suffering” from the 2015 decision to open the border, allowing more than a million people to flee in search of asylum.
“We continue to suffer as a result. I do not want to underestimate it.”
