The Social Democrats' leader said on Monday his party won't join the new government led by Angela Merkel's union of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU). The politician stressed that the previous coalition that his party was signed up to has received the "red card."
"In such a situation, the sovereign, that is the voters, must reassess what is going on," Schulz said to reporters on Wednesday, adding that his party does "not fear" the new elections.
SPD leader Martin Schulz says Germany needs new elections (believing that SPD cannot go under 20%). pic.twitter.com/gshs4DKYdC
— Alper Üçok (@AlperUcok) 20 ноября 2017 г.
The statement comes after the talks on the formation of the coalition government that would include Merkel's CDU/CSU, the Green Party and the FDP collapsed. The Free Democrats pulled out from the negotiations on Monday after four weeks of fruitless efforts to find a consensus between the parties. Disagreements over issues such as migration and climate change were reportedly behind the breakdown of the talks.
READ MORE: AfD Leader Urges Chancellor Merkel to Resign as Coalition Talks Collapse
Ruling CDU/CSU alliance came in first in the September election with 32.9 percent of votes and secured 246 seats in the 709-seat parliament. The FDP came fourth with 10.7 percent of votes and 80 seats. The Greens came sixth, gaining 8.9 percent of votes and 67 seats.
